ARRLDX SSB Soapbox built 3-30-2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4A2S Class: M/S HP Total Score = 4,315,041 Many thanks to Marco, XE2S for the use of his wonderful station. 15 meters is usually the "money band" but it was really bad this year. Fun in the sun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4M5IR Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 413,118 THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO THE FAMILY ABRU AND VERY SPECIAL TO YV5LMW ANTONIO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4O3A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,142,532 Worse conditions ever. Nice relaxing operating with Slovenian friends. CU in RDXC Ranko ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 6Y1V Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 9,510,069 Conditions were certainly not good - TO SAY THE LEAST - but 40 and 20 were our salvation. One excellent opening on 15 meters Saturday afternoon really helped as did the BIG antennas. Score is about 1 Million less than last year but all things considered we're pretty pleased. Pretty grueling weekend with 3 ops and 2 stations running all 48 hours. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 8P1A Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 7,032,564 Still working on stabilizing my operating situation in Barbados. Luckily, the tall tower survived having a truck hit a guy wire since my last trip. The contest had some fun moments, despite the worst propagation I have ever seen from 8P. HC8A was just too good on 10 for me to keep pace. It is great to see Rich (N6KT) competing again. The sport is better for it. Thanks for all of the Q's Long story is in the scores section of my website at http://tgeorgens.home.mindspring.com QLS via NN1N or LOTW 73, Tom W2SC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9A1UN Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 1,872 qrv just 1 hour and 20 minutes sunday afternoon, there was a short opening producing this qso around 1430z. Most interesting qso was KC7V from AZ on a dead band. 73 Dave 9A1UN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9A50KDE Class: SOSB/80 HP Total Score = 6,336 Bad conditions on 80 meter's in Phone part of ARRL DX Contest........ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA1K Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,566,870 Conditions made it a challenging weekend. Unlike CW, at least we made a few QSOs on 10 meters this weekend. But 15 meter conditions seemed worse -- only 3 Europeans squeaked through this time. Slept some both nights. Stations info at www.aa1k.us. AA1K Max Rates: 2008-03-01 1451Z - 5.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by AA1K 2008-03-01 1543Z - 3.3 per minute (10 minute(s)), 198 per hour by AA1K 2008-03-01 1624Z - 2.6 per minute (60 minute(s)), 158 per hour by AA1K QSO Breakdown: Date Hour Total AA1K Running Total 2008-03-01 0 48 48 48 2008-03-01 1 30 30 78 2008-03-01 2 19 19 97 2008-03-01 3 19 19 116 2008-03-01 4 30 30 146 2008-03-01 5 34 34 180 2008-03-01 6 30 30 210 2008-03-01 7 24 24 234 2008-03-01 11 27 27 261 2008-03-01 12 33 33 294 2008-03-01 13 105 105 399 2008-03-01 14 109 109 508 2008-03-01 15 131 131 639 2008-03-01 16 129 129 768 2008-03-01 17 101 101 869 2008-03-01 18 75 75 944 2008-03-01 19 66 66 1010 2008-03-01 20 64 64 1074 2008-03-01 21 40 40 1114 2008-03-01 22 33 33 1147 2008-03-01 23 22 22 1169 2008-03-02 0 17 17 1186 2008-03-02 1 3 3 1189 2008-03-02 6 8 8 1197 2008-03-02 7 15 15 1212 2008-03-02 8 7 7 1219 2008-03-02 9 17 17 1236 2008-03-02 10 10 10 1246 2008-03-02 11 4 4 1250 2008-03-02 12 39 39 1289 2008-03-02 13 55 55 1344 2008-03-02 14 86 86 1430 2008-03-02 15 45 45 1475 2008-03-02 16 88 88 1563 2008-03-02 17 55 55 1618 2008-03-02 18 26 26 1644 2008-03-02 19 29 29 1673 2008-03-02 20 60 60 1733 2008-03-02 21 37 37 1770 2008-03-02 22 10 10 1780 2008-03-02 23 21 21 1801 Total All Hours 1801 1801 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD8J Class: SOSB/40 HP Total Score = 14,256 Sure would be nice if more DX would spend time on 40 meters. Ran out of stations to work so when fresh meat showed up it was like feeding time at the zoo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AK4I Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 148,131 Yeasu FT-2000, 811H @ 500 watts, Cushcraft MA5B @ 65 feet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AL1G Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 81,357 Thanks to all who called me in the contest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: C6ANM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 2,701,920 Fairly enjoyable despite changing conditions. Only negative was the conflict with the unidentified owner of 14.275 MHz. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CE3DNP Class: SOSB/15 LP Total Score = 101,400 Nice contest... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CT1ENQ Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 5,400 Very bad cndx. No propagation to US above 20m. My conditions also not good, just a small dipole and less than 100w. Basically worked the big guns that could hear me. Had quite a few stations/multipliers that got me but not enough to go into the log. Las 2 minutes of the CT, WB9Z had me as CT1YNQ, seconds counting and arrived to end without being able to log a new multiplier on 40m. I REALLY must improve my antennas or wait for better band cndx :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CT1ILT Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 507,129 Propagation was quite bad on low bands... Win-test says I opertated 14 hours...not much time, just litle effort Look for me as CS2T, this will be my next COntest call from now on 73's Cu in WPX CW as CS2T Filipe Lopes CT1ILT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CV5K Class: M/S HP Total Score = 924,000 QSL INFO CX2ABC 73´S Dan CX9AU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CW6V Class: M/S HP Total Score = 3,570,000 a set of very strong emotions, by a side the immense joy to receive my friends Dale N3BNA and Tom ZP5AZL/ZP0R and his wife in my QTH, after been received at Tom´s house many times and feel like one more of the family. On the other hand, a deep sadness by the death of the mother of Dale happened early on Sunday. Dale be sure your mother is next to God you do not doubt it, been thankful to have a son wonderful like your and that always took care of her, he was in peace knowing that you were doing what more you liked, RADIO. She always will guide you and will bless all our meetings. God bless you.. _______________________________________________ Multi Single entry with one radio TS850SAT Drake L7 amp TH7DX wires for low bands Excelent friends! Thanks for the patience in 160 mts, storms all the weekend and too much rain all the week. 73, Jorge CX6VM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ6QT Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 73,350 vy bad condx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL0WW Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 357,000 High winds in Germany took away half an element of the 4-el 20m Beam on Saturday morning and turned the Packet Radio antenna to the moon. Assisted category only during first night when it was not really usefull. 40m was very poor but created highest rate from 22-23z on Sunday evening. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL1Z Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 95,246 Plan was to run full effort but conditions were frustrating the first day so I gave priority to other stuff I had in my pipeline. Went up early sunday morning for the long path, but without success either. Real hard to find a run frequency with all the loud Europeans, some with real wide splattering and all stations being on 20m when 15 and 10 were closed. Highlight was my last hour which which let me enter 172 qsos into the log. Wanted to reach the 100k score but the band faded out before that. Hope to meet you all in WPX with better conditions either with this call or from DR1A. Thanks to all the stations who called me through the qrm 73 Peter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL2AA Class: SOSB/20 QRP Total Score = 648 Thanks to all who worked me. Spent 1.5 hours late Sunday afternoon and worked most of the loud stations. Condx were not too good here. The lesson is clear: QRP is hard work! cu Maik DL2AA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA4KR Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,246,000 Vy nice poor conditions. Tnx for all the QSO. 73 de Julio, EA4KR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA5DFV Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 597,960 Brrrr.... I like this contest with very poor conditions: it seem that the next one will be better sure :-) Thanks a lot to the friends that have the patient to made the contact with me. 73 de Jose FT1000MP Mark V. Ameritron AL-82 Mosley Pro 67B and inverted Vs for 80m and 160m Quite simple. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA5ON Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 93,456 Operated from my La Eliana QTH for this one. Is the glass half full or half empty? Well, if you look around at what local competitors EA5KV, EA5GS and EA5DFV were doing, definitely half empty. Victor was up at the Torrent club station and working stations with 100w that I couldn’t even hear. Also having my rotator broken was not good news although I was able to coax it round to 300 degrees and leave it there. Not having a KW to compete on an even level in the HP category was also a bummer. The Tremendus is just too heavy to lug back and forth from the apartment to the house and back again. The 500 that I said I was using was more like 300. However, I prefer to look at the positive factors: I was able to operate once again from what was my primary QTH for many years and is now our 2nd QTH. This in theory meant peace and quiet, being just me and the dog, but in the end the family came both days and I’m glad they did since we got lots of chores done and I saved myself from desperation. Having the rotator broken brings to a head the antenna situation. The rusty tower needs maintenance so I must now address the situation and take a decision on what to do. This will probably mean a lot of work and a lot of money but hopefully will bring around a more competitive station at the end. This year I finally dispensed with the car batteries for the SS linear and bought two 40A PSUs which I connected in parallel. These small switching units are very quiet and power the amp without any complaints. SO much better! Why did I wait so long to do this?! (Answer: PSUs used to be much more expensive). I was able to make some low band contacts! For those of you who live in larger houses this is no big deal but for me it is. In my apartment I am limited even to the size of tribander I can install so absolutely NO low band antennas there. And at the house, with the exception of a 40m dipole I had about 15 years ago, similar deal, small lot (60’ x 60’). So for this contest, I took one of my 60’ spiderpoles (used from EA6 last CQWW), zipped it up next to the tower with a wire attached, and ran it against a metal fence and one radial. 40 was unexpectedly poor but I managed to net 45 contacts on 80 which was absolutely the best part of the contest. Had I slept less on Friday night this would have been more. Saturday I had more noise and Sunday I took the antenna down in the morning. I guess that from here on, things can only get better :.) Rig: TS850S w voice keyer and 1.8 inrad filter Amp: Ameritron ALS500M Ant: Mosley TA53M @ 40’ Ant2: 60’ vertical wire 73 Duncan EA5ON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ES5RW Class: SOSB/160 HP Total Score = 975 Aurora hit us VERY bad. This tells everything. Not a chance. Even Tonno’s impressive antenna farm didn’t help me out. Typically did not deserve any attention of big guns while low power guys from southern Europe made it 1st call. Instead of pileups was forced to take lots of healthy sleep. Seems like operating from the worst possible location during worst possible propagation. The only usable bands were 20 meters during very limited hours of daytime opening and - top band during the first night. Highs. A pleasant surprise was being called by VY0HL: never heard or worked Nunavut in ARRL before. The good news is that we MUST have reached the BOTTOM and since now the propagation can only improve. CU in further contests! 73, Rein, ES5RW P.S. Decided to submit the log in SOSB 160m class. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G4BUO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 677,148 Well, when conditions are like this G is definitely in northern Europe rather than western Europe! Saturday was especially tough. Highlight - working 70 W/VE co-channel SSB on topband. My Elmer G6BQ who was a topband specialist would never have believed it. Lowlight - the bullying tactics of IK8HCG who forced me off my 20m run frequency late on Saturday. 160m - shunt fed tower 80m - delta loop 40m - 4 square 20m - 4el up 73ft 15m - 4el up 83ft 10m - who cares? FT1000MP + Ten-Tec Centurion, Win-Test v3.15 Dave G4BUO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G4ERW Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 29,367 Total of about 4 hours during the Saturday afternoon. Signals from North America were not too strong but EU QRM was - need antenna with better F/B! An enjoyable time despite this and a good level of activity from NA stations as usual. Rig: TS850 + AL811 (400 Watts) Ant: 2 ele monoband quad at 40ft ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G4MKP Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 14,388 Hopefully gave a few points to you NA guys. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: GI5K Class: SOSB/80 HP Total Score = 40,515 2 phased verticals FT1000MP Alpha 99 Conditions on 80m was horrible (as everywhere), it started out ok for the first few hours until 0400z where things slowed up, I could hear some southern European / north African stations having a slightly better time and even went out with the torch into the field to make sure everything was ok with the antennas, we were getting 60mph winds that night. As expected around my sunrise I got a good run going again, spent a few hours on the second night up to around 0000z where things got very very slow again, facing a long night ahead of similar and knowing this would not be a year that I could put in a serious effort, I retired and went to bed, well done to GM3PPG Rick and SN3A who struggled on. Had a bit of fun S/P on the other bands and was amazed at the lack of GI activity as for a lot of them I was a new mult, and sorry I did not make it to 160m. 73! Chris MI0LLL http://www.mi0lll.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: GM3PPG Class: SOSB/80 HP Total Score = 63,081 I operated SOSB 80m ph field day style from North Uist Island, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Set up a 6 el vert array 100m from Atlantic. Fault on array on first night. - fixed the following morning. Extremely poor propagation condx. on first night, - K3LR and W3LPL were approx 30-40 dB weaker than in good condx. Condx. improved on the second night. This agreed with predicted Geo-magnetic indices. But very few North and Western states/provinces worked from this northerly latitude in Scotland (paths too close to expanded auroral oval). Condx. better to more southerly Eu stations I think (heard a CT3 station working into W7). Good to work K6OY (CA), NT0V (ND), and N7RK (AZ) as best dx. Relentless high winds and rain on days before contest with F11 wind and rain during contest. Damage to tent protecting phase shift unit, but all 62 ft masts OK! Operated from car. Genny failed 2 days after contest. Amazingly it overheated! Condx. can only get better next year. Thanks to all who called. Apologies to any I didn't respond to. Looking forward to 2009. 73, Rick -- G4BYB aka GM3PPG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: GM7V Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 118,404 Like everyone else, I always start a contest positively, hoping for good conditions and big pile-ups. Sadly, this feeling only lasted a few minutes in ARRL SSB. Decided my time would be better spent re-installing some more antennas in the cold spring sunshine, with just occasional checks on the bands. Best ears of the weekend were the W3LPL 40m op. who copied me when the band was just opening - their signal was only S 0.5 here. I heard one tired U.S. op. saying he was suffering 'rapid queen roger mary' which pretty well sums things up! 99% of stations worked were 1500W stns, with few 100W QSOs. Things can only get better ! Thanks for the QSOs - please QSL GM7V via Linda M0CMK - all GM7V logs are on LoTW. 73 Chris GM3WOJ/ZL1CT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: GW4BLE Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 916,860 What a contest! Haven't done an all-band ARRL for a while - maybe this wasn't a good year for me to try again :-( Weather played havoc to my 40m antenna - looks like something went severely intermittent about 9pm Sunday evening as SWR went very high and must have cost me dearly with lost Qs, just as the band started to open properly from here! First night I made just ONE contact all night (W3LPL) on 40, only taking my total to 99 by close-of-play Saturday. Normally I would expect several hundred Qs on the band. Speaking with an OZ station Saturday morning he said his SB40 total (with 3 ele quad @ 120') was only FIVE (!), so that was some indication of poor propagation, at least at our latitude. Top-band was a surprise, well for me anyway, making 51 Qs and 19 mults. Tower is shunt-fed and used for RX as well, so noise level is often high. Heard a lot of other DX on the band, so conditions must have been good. Overall, given the conditions, I felt that I wasn't doing that badly - had the 40m antenna not gone kaput Sunday evening I could perhaps have added another few 100+ contacts to the log, probably more, who knows..... Steve GW4BLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HA8BE Class: SOSB/160 LP Total Score = 27 Rig: IC-756 Ant: Vertical (28m) Rx ant: 2x50m LW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HC8A Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 8,214,192 This was my first ARRL DX effort since 1993. Also, this was my first 48 hour contest using computer logging. Right on the Equator seems to have been the place to be in this contest. Many of the 10 meter mults were just 1 contact with that state. Many thanks to Dave, W6NL, for his support in preparing for this contest. 73, Rich, N6KT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HG7T Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 36,972 My Rig FTDX9000D + PA Ant 4 ele SteppIR Up-40m Sri not propagacion from HA Big QRM EU call Sri 140km/h wind Emma hurican hi....... 73&DX Tibi HA7TM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HI3C Class: M/S HP Total Score = 5,004,714 TX ALL FRIEND HI3K*EDWIN* HI8ROX*RAFAEL* EA4ATI*DANIEL*....GOOD GROUP TO THE CONTEST THE STATION WORKING VERY GOOD.... 73S ALL CONTACT AND SEE NEXT YEAR HI3CCP CONSTANTINO *TINO* WWW.LOMADELTORO.COM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HI3T Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 518,610 Hi Guys: I will not write a novel but the station a week before the contest been tested and ready but 4 days b4 a kidney disease again. Since wednesday till saturday my body been as a microoven 40 degrees all over and a lot of medication. Finally on saturday at 16:00 utc disapeared and I decided to give a try (I NEVER GIVE UP) but in a single band because 17 hours behind did not have any remote posibility to reach the top in the SOAB CAT. Started the effort but not as good I wished to be: 2008-03-01 1810 - 2240Z, 14280 kHz, 1015 Qs, 225.5/hr My magic number now I should change it to 4, Do not remember a steady pile up in all my priors competition like this one... A pity I did not recorded The rest is history only 3 hours at 85 qso's per hour and the rest over a hundred qso mark. Then on monday back to the school sorry back to the Doctor to receive a long treatment again. Thanks Guys to keep my pile so good that I did forget for the moment all my illness and pain. EQUIPMENT USED FT2000 (100 WATTS) AND 4L STEPPIR BOTH WORKED PERFECT ALSO A GREAT TOOL TO BEAT SOME DELIBERATING QRM SPECIAL AT 14270 God bless and CU soon 73'S Ted HI3TEJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HK1X Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 482,040 Nice propagation,both nights propagation closed, only operation on day. many thanks for all multipliers and qsos. see you in next contest. Pedro Claver HK1X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HK6P Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 1,149,888 ICOM 765 G5RV MOSLEY TA 53 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HL5YI Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 270 Hi Guy's Mant tnk fb qso..cu agn next contest..de hl5yi CHAE.. G.L 73.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HQ9R Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 2,628,000 Great contest! Conditions here seemed good on all bands. Think the poor conditions to europe from US helped us. Many great operators and lots of new folks. See you in WPX! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HT2N Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 660,210 Thanks to Octavio, YN2N ( http://www.yn2n.com ) and Martha for being such wonderful hosts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IO4T Class: M/S HP Total Score = 63,570 73s! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IR4X Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,351,000 Really an hard test this week end. Tkanks for calling and specially for repeating several time your call... Now propagation can only emprove. Monte Capra Team IR4X 73 de Claudio I4VEQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IT9HUV Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 432 Hello to all boys ... Poor propagation in 15mt. Say the non-existent... The Saturday afternoon listening only the state of Florida .. Sunday afternoon a little better was the propagation but still for a few moments. Thanks to all and next year I hope to be more competitive! Softwere for managing Log: QARTEST easy and accurate. Good luck and the best win! '73s By Sal/IT9HUV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IT9RBW Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 177,684 Hy Guys Really bad propagation! Thanks to IT9HUV to let me used him qth. Sorry to made repeat many times the calls but really weak signals. Sunday I had many problems with setup,I must trasmitted with a radio that I never used, without voice keyer and whitout filters so I had many difficoults.Sunday afternoon I must stopped trasmission about 1 hour when the band was open. I cannot used a cluster! Saturday evening it was strong wind and I had to change antenna and I used just a tribander.Howewer i'm sutisfacted about the result. See you next year! Rig Icom 756 pro3,pa,4 elem.@10m qartest IT9RBW Joe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IT9STX Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 239,913 Crazy propagation, anyway it's a beautiful contest rig: ts870, pa, 3 el. homemade @ 19mt. wintest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IT9XTP Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 44,604 My first contest! 73s de IT9XTP Salvo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IZ1LBG Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 32,280 Very limited operation. Thanks to all who have call me... Filippo IZ1LBG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: JQ1BVI Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 49,266 I used IC756, IC780, MK2R+, and WinTest. However, when the band was changed, Radio was not often corresponding to the log. The data of IC780 seems not to be correct. Do you experienced and exist? As for Wintest, edit cannot do the frequency. (14M->21M) I was embarrassed. It was play of only ten hours. However, it was possible to enjoy it. Thank you for the contact. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0GAS Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 30,429 NEVER HEARD A SINGLE EUROPEAN! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0OU Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 185,334 Knew it was going to be a long weekend when I had to re-boot the computer after each of the 1st 2 contacts. Fortunately, I wasn't trying to win anything, just have some fun and make some DX contacts - so was 99.5% S&P (only one Q as a result of a CQ). Band condx stunk, Europe was scarce and JA was non-existant. Also, the antenna blew around in the wind and I did not know where it was pointed most of the time - made it interesting. C U all in the next one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PK Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 32,736 Just poked around on 20, when I had time between "honey-do" projects. Conditions were very poor on Saturday but a bit better on Sunday. CQing proved fruitless (only 1 Q) so virtually all were S&P. Was surprised by an S9+ contact w/Kuwait. Some 100w sigs were huge here and some KWs were in the noise. At times it seemed my antennas were busted! Then - boom - I'd get a "big signal" report from some far away place. Worked most of what I could hear, but with power line hash from the NE and OTH radar from the SE, copying weak signals was a challenge. Add QRM, QSB, excessive processing, and heavy accents and I was reminded why I love CW! Still, had a good time. Thanks for the Qs! FT-2000/AL-811H (600w) TB5EM at 90' TH3MK4 at 45'(fixed SE) 73 - Paul, K0PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TV Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 1,389,768 Man, what lousy conditions. I can't wait for sunspots and the high bands to come back! I miss 10 and 15. Two weeks ago one of my amps blew up during the CW weekend. I repaired it and got it back on line but I wasn't able to determine the root cause of the failure. I thought possibly that one of the tubes had gone bad so I replaced one of them and proceeded to beat on the amp for the next week. It chose to fail one hour before the start of the phone weekend. I swapped out the other tube with the one I took out. The amp ran faithfully for the entire contest. MVP this time goes to new op KB1NYQ for all his enthusiasm in the face of the worst conditions I've ever seen. Thanks for everyone who called in. 73, Jerry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1CX Class: M/M HP Total Score = 2,547,360 We ultimately decided to do a casual effort and get as many points for YCCC as we could. We tip our hats to everyone who stuck this one out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1GU Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 302,016 When is a contest NOT a contest? Ans. When operating single-op assisted. The height of laziness but at least it kept me in the chair longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1IR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 933,660 Things I choose to remember from this contest: sh/wwv Date Hour SFI A K Forecast Logger 1-Mar-2008 3 71 29 5 MINOR W/G1 LVL ; MINOR W/G1 LVL - Ops willing to contribute in spite of above - thanks W1STT, NF1R, K1VR. - A low-key weekend. - Surprisingly good frozen lasagna. - Meeting some neighbors for the first time to talk about line noise. - Contesting friends from around the world calling in to say hi. - A few good runs. - NCIS marathon on the USA network. - Leaving the station unattended on Saturday at midnight for a roadtrip to restock caffeinated beverages. - Getting spotted 20 times. - Weird openings at weird times. - No frequency fights. - Dinner and a movie with the XYL on Saturday night. Thanks for the QSOs. 73, Jim K1IR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LT Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 68,670 Well, I started the contest on 160 with the intention of gaining additional experience with my Steerable Phased Array (read: screwing around). However, operating 160 exclusively during a multi-band phone DX contest is excruciatingly boring, so I started chasing DX on 40, which is the only other band besides 160 for which I have an antenna, a ground-mounted quarter wave vertical over 32 radials. So, Friday evening I alternated between 40 and 160. I napped from about 0230Z to 0530Z, and went to bed for good after 0630Z. I don't think I worked anything remarkable. Saturday afternoon I observed that a 40 meter vertical also works on 15 meters, so I hung out on 15 for a while. When 15 got slow, I screwed around trying to load up the vertical on 20 without the benefit of an antenna tuner. By being careful, I could get the amplifier to emit about 250 watts without tripping the SWR protect circuit. Thus, I was able to work TM6M on 20 meters. When 15 got slow and 40 got going, I stayed on 40 for a while and worked a lot of Europeans and South Americans. I discovered that its faster to enter a split frequency via the keyboard that via the radio front panel, even though one has to put fingers on both the radio and the keyboard at the same time. When I worked TM6M on 40, they told me "3787", so I thought, what the heck. Now, a few months ago, I tried adding a parallel 80 meter wire to my 160 meter "T" for Sweepstakes. Although the wire is cut for 3530 or so, I could trick the amplifier into producing a few watts on 80 by again being careful not to trip the SWR protect. So, I worked TM6M on 80 meters, along with 5 other stations, thus making TM6M my first 4 band contact. I stuck with 40 and 160 until European sunrise, and went to bed. ZL3A was my best DX on 40, and CW6V was probably the best DX on 160. I heard a whisper of US0LW on 160, but he was not strong enough to call. I heard lots of Europeans coming back to the big east coast stations, but I didn't care to call CQ. Sunday morning, I managed to hit the 15 meter band opening just right, and stayed with it most of the day, except for a couple of hours of family support duty. I think I worked all of the actual South American countries except PZ, 8R, OA, and CP. My vertical didn't have enough oomph to reach ZL2AWH, and I didn't hear any Europeans. Maybe I need more radials :-) I made a couple of excursions to 10 meters, and one time I found TI50DX, and again the amplifier trick worked. So, TI50DX is my other 4 band contact. I finished on 40 winding up with the following breakdown: band QSOs mults 160 30 27 80 6 6 40 100 47 20 1 1 15 72 27 10 1 1 TOTAL 210 109 SCORE: 68,670 Maybe I should put up a tribander or buy an antenna tuner. Antennas: 160: 65' vertical with "T" top 80: 48' inverted L tied to 160 vertical (read: very narrow) 40: 33' vertical 20: 33' vertical 15: 33' vertical 10: 33' vertical Victor, K1LT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 2,280,960 73 K1LZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1RM Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 143,865 Knowing I could not get serious in a SSB contest, I decided to try something I've never done before, run at the 100 watt level and to be honest, I actually enjoyed the contest,and isn't that what it's all about. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1RX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,240,785 Big change at this station - going from MM to SOAB (and no packet). I quite accurately predicted the poor propagation for the weekend and "sent" everyone home to play from their idividual stations! Hopefully from a score production point of view, this was a good move - more points for the club competition! Thought going without packet might be fun, different, challenging and the like. Not disappointed here - having the ability to tune another band (usually close to dead) while CQing on the only band for rate (20 M) was thought to be a nice way to kill the weekend. Found it very tough trying to listen on one band while getting answers to my CQing with signal levels close to the noise level - it took a whole lot more work than I originally considered. Wall to wall on 20 M during the day, where I noticed we were all sometimes coexisting with 200 Hz separation! That must sound very interesting in Europe - barely touching the dial and work about 10 people. Left the shack for several hours to help out my local club station by supplying an amplifier, DVK and some general support on Saturday night. The operator there was very pleased with his results despite the poor conditions. Thanks so much to all the DX stations for all your patience! Very hard to make a decent go of it on the bands with such bad conditions - you made my weekend and again, thanks! When the sunspots return, so will my ever faithful contest crew (hope!). 73, Mark, K1RX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 586,080 SO1R. First QSO at 2103Z. "Ran" mostly S EU for about an hour, then an hour of S&P to the south on 20 & 15, then operated on and off all evening, stopping at 08Z. Slept a full night and started again near 16Z. Found a 20M freq at 1613Z, long after the peak of the opening. Sat there for about 6 hours, grinding it out through the QRM for 444 QSOs. Some interesting moments mixed in with the slow sunspot minimum condx. - Many years ago, I recall listening to a WA4 in FL running VK/Pacific on 20 that were inaudible in CT. The tables were turned as I was that runner this time. - IK4VET passed along the info that I was much louder than the M/Ms for a little while late this afternoon on 20. Enjoyed working many 10 watt M3s and many other Western Europeans, but in the end, the Is have it. - Two ET3s called in on 20. - Several 10 watt VK3Fxxx (2x4 calls) called on 40. - G4NXG/m persisted and got through on 40 at 0745Z. - Worked more 4Xs (5) than JAs (3) on 20. Managed one JA on 15. - Only one EU on 160. Tnx to G4BUO for moving there with me. A total turnaround from last weekend when 51 EU were logged for CQ 160 SSB. - Absolutely no EU logged on 15, although I was probably too late to catch any opening. - Still disappointed in the harassing behavior of non-contesters. 73, Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TTT Class: M/M HP Total Score = 2,429,856 Ugh! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2CJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 143,715 Ick. Friday night and some Saturday operation. Nice to work A35RK and ZD7X on 15! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2DBK Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 79,968 Well, at least I beat my score from last year, though I'm not sure if that was just due to the fact that I may have spent more time in the chair. Due to family obligations I missed most of the 20m opening to EU on Sunday morning/early afternoon, but the 1/2 hour that I put in probably got me about four times the number of Q's that I got overall during most of the contest. As bad as conditions were, at least I was able to sit in front of the radio and make contacts, which beats, well, NOT making contacts. Let's hope things start to improve soon! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2PS Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 397,518 Thanks to N2MM for her hospitality in hosting my LP operation. In my quest to try and win the class I thought that perhaps the high and many antennas would be the answer, but it was not to be. Even with N1UR out of the country. Even the chance to try SO2R. I should have used the amps. When I can't run 'em and signals are weak the possible stations to be worked becomes small and any edge over non-East Coasters disappears. So K3PP's musing about "a Novacaine-free root canal without some power" is pretty close. I have the usual pet peeve about stations not signing, but the best is when the station says "we worked before" but doesn't immediately repeat his call! Pete ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2QPN Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 21,900 Friday morning I was laid low with intestinal distress. It was late Saturday when I could venture far enough from a bathroom to turn on the rig. I was greeted by S9+10 of line noise on 80, 40, and 20. I worked those I could hear. Disappointing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2TE Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 415,170 The lousy band conditions mitigated the fact that a severe respiratory infection prevented me from any runs beyond a half hour Sunday. Oh well, not my favorite mode anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3LR Class: M/M HP Total Score = 4,116,504 Congratulations to the W3LPL team. Frank and the guys did a wonderful job under difficult conditions. It is super to have great competition among the USA Multi Multi teams. It takes lots of effort to make it all happen and it is lots of FUN! Good job! The K3LR contestmen worked very hard this weekend. We had challenging conditions, but the dedicated and driven “Can Do K3LR Team” really pushed for every QSO and made the best of what the sun gave us. Thanks to all operators that traveled from across the country to join us for the last contest of the season at K3LR! What a great way to spend 48 hours - with the best of friends! My sincere thanks to Dave, W9ZRX who works many hours getting things ready and keeping them running here at K3LR so that these contests come off very smooth. We could not do this with him. The K3LR station description is at http://www.k3lr.com click on HARDWARE. K3LR QSLs are available on ARRL LoTW, eQSL, via the QSL Bureau and also via direct mail. We QSL 100%. We are already looking forward to the CQWW DX contests this Fall. Hope to see you in Dayton this May! From the K3LR Contest Team, Very 73, Tim K3LR K3lr@k3lr.com http://www.k3lr.com ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX PHONE CONTEST -- 2008 BAND QSO COUNTRIES OPERATORs 160 90 49 N2NC 80 485 86 KM3T + WM2H 40 507 93 N9RV + W2RQ 20 1852 130 N2NT + K1AR 15 225 58 K1DG + K3UA 10 50 12 N3SD + N9JA -------------------------------------- Totals 3209 428 = 4,116,504 Continent Statistics K3LR ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX PHONE CONTEST Multi Multi 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent North America 28 51 68 89 59 7 302 9.2 South America 11 27 65 137 130 43 413 12.5 Europe 42 379 245 1487 17 0 2170 65.9 Asia 0 6 7 104 1 0 118 3.6 Africa 4 9 26 42 6 0 87 2.6 Oceania 7 33 117 25 22 0 204 6.2 BREAKDOWN QSO/mults K3LR ARRL INTERNATIONAL PHONE DX CONTEST Multi Multi HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT 0 5/5 81/38 65/35 72/28 5/3 ..... 228/109 228/109 1 7/7 49/11 42/10 12/2 . . 110/30 338/139 2 4/4 27/6 19/4 9/0 . . 59/14 397/153 3 8/6 24/8 16/1 1/0 . . 49/15 446/168 4 5/5 25/3 12/1 . . . 42/9 488/177 5 14/8 20/1 5/1 . . . 39/10 527/187 6 6/2 23/1 13/3 . . . 42/6 569/193 7 3/1 7/2 15/2 . . . 25/5 594/198 8 2/1 9/2 17/0 ..... ..... ..... 28/3 622/201 9 4/0 3/1 16/0 . . . 23/1 645/202 10 . 4/0 9/0 . . . 13/0 658/202 11 4/2 . 5/1 7/6 2/0 . 18/9 676/211 12 . . 2/0 52/21 6/3 . 60/24 736/235 13 . . . 153/21 21/7 1/1 175/29 911/264 14 . . . 141/11 23/10 . 164/21 1075/285 15 . . . 144/2 16/6 2/2 162/10 1237/295 16 ..... ..... ..... 100/2 11/3 ..... 111/5 1348/300 17 . . . 106/2 25/7 2/1 133/10 1481/310 18 . . . 32/3 20/0 9/2 61/5 1542/315 19 . . 1/1 49/4 13/2 4/1 67/8 1609/323 20 . . 4/0 38/2 13/1 1/1 56/4 1665/327 21 . . 21/7 37/4 11/3 13/2 82/16 1747/343 22 . 17/1 34/1 50/0 4/1 11/1 116/4 1863/347 23 1/0 34/1 31/6 21/2 . . 87/9 1950/356 0 ..... 16/1 13/4 21/3 ..... ..... 50/8 2000/364 1 . 7/0 11/2 3/0 . . 21/2 2021/366 2 1/1 10/0 8/0 2/0 . . 21/1 2042/367 3 . 12/4 6/2 1/0 . . 19/6 2061/373 4 7/3 9/1 3/0 2/0 . . 21/4 2082/377 5 7/3 20/0 6/1 . . . 33/4 2115/381 6 9/0 24/1 . . . . 33/1 2148/382 7 1/0 11/0 7/0 1/0 . . 20/0 2168/382 8 ..... 5/1 8/0 ..... ..... ..... 13/1 2181/383 9 . 5/0 17/1 . . . 22/1 2203/384 10 2/1 3/0 10/0 . . . 15/1 2218/385 11 . 4/0 5/0 3/1 . . 12/1 2230/386 12 . 4/1 4/1 52/2 1/1 . 61/5 2291/391 13 . . . 110/3 5/2 1/1 116/6 2407/397 14 . . . 118/1 8/3 . 126/4 2533/401 15 . . . 129/1 7/1 . 136/2 2669/403 16 ..... ..... ..... 101/2 2/0 1/0 104/2 2773/405 17 . . . 79/1 5/3 . 84/4 2857/409 18 . . . 48/2 8/1 . 56/3 2913/412 19 . . . 42/1 3/0 2/0 47/1 2960/413 20 . . 4/0 47/0 8/0 2/0 61/0 3021/413 21 . . 20/4 33/1 3/0 1/0 57/5 3078/418 22 . 17/1 32/2 17/1 5/1 . 71/5 3149/423 23 . 15/1 26/3 19/1 . . 60/5 3209/428 DAY1 63/41 323/75 327/73 1024/110 170/46 43/11 ..... 1950/356 DAY2 27/8 162/11 180/20 828/20 55/12 7/1 . 1259/72 TOT 90/49 485/86 507/93 1852/130 225/58 50/12 . 3209/428 QSO Counts By Band-Country K3LR ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX PHONE CONTEST Multi Multi PRFX 160 80 40 20 15 10 3A 1 1 4O 1 1 1 1 4X 1 1 10 5B 1 1 1 5R 1 5Z 1 6Y 1 1 1 1 1 1 8P 1 3 3 3 5 8R 1 1 1 9A 2 7 7 23 1 9H 4 9K 1 2 9Y 1 1 1 4 1 A3 1 C5 1 1 C6 1 1 1 1 1 C9 1 CE 3 12 8 2 CM 2 3 9 11 2 CN 3 CP 3 CT 1 8 13 15 2 CT3 2 4 3 4 CU 1 1 CX 1 2 2 7 8 3 DL 1 48 11 142 1 E7 1 1 6 EA 1 27 36 104 4 EA6 1 1 4 EA8 1 2 9 11 1 EA9 1 1 EI 8 3 15 EL 1 1 1 ER 1 ES 2 ET 2 EU 3 F 4 23 24 139 1 FM 2 1 4 5 3 FR 1 FY 1 1 2 1 G 8 48 15 199 1 GD 1 4 GI 2 1 22 GJ 1 GM 2 5 1 22 GU 1 2 2 GW 4 8 1 23 HA 3 4 21 3 HB 3 16 9 27 HC 1 1 1 3 1 1 HC8 1 1 1 1 1 1 HI 1 2 1 4 1 1 HK 2 2 7 4 HK0/a 1 1 1 1 1 HP 1 2 1 3 4 HR 2 4 4 5 5 HS 1 I 5 52 59 284 2 IS 1 3 J2 1 J3 1 2 2 4 J6 1 1 1 3 J7 1 1 2 1 J8 1 1 2 1 JA 4 4 80 1 KH2 1 1 KH6 2 5 11 13 12 KH9 1 1 KL 1 3 KP2 2 3 3 3 4 KP4 4 3 6 3 2 LA 1 1 1 4 LU 2 5 12 35 42 20 LX 2 1 LY 2 4 LZ 6 3 12 OA 1 OD 1 OE 2 7 5 25 1 OH 3 1 18 OK 12 2 24 OM 5 3 7 ON 7 2 52 OY 1 OZ 4 1 15 P4 1 1 1 3 3 PA 3 16 4 69 PJ2 2 2 2 4 3 PJ7 1 2 2 PY 2 10 33 45 47 14 S5 9 9 32 SM 4 22 SP 2 12 4 20 SV 5 3 17 SV9 1 2 1 T7 1 TA 2 TF 2 TG 2 2 TI 2 3 5 5 5 3 TK 1 1 1 TR 1 TZ 1 UA 4 2 31 UA2 3 UA9 4 UN 2 UR 1 6 2 12 V2 1 1 1 1 1 V3 1 1 1 1 1 V4 2 3 2 1 2 V5 1 1 2 2 1 VK 4 14 86 3 3 VP2E 1 VP2V 2 1 1 VP5 1 2 1 2 1 1 VP8 1 VP9 1 1 1 1 1 1 VU 1 XE 2 7 11 20 8 YB 3 YL 1 3 YN 1 YO 4 3 17 YS 1 1 YU 8 5 17 YV 1 3 7 8 1 Z3 1 6 ZD7 1 1 ZF 1 ZL 1 13 18 4 5 ZP 1 1 ZS 1 11 9 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3MJW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 138,915 Ice storm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3MZ Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 10,854 K3 worked well in this phone contest. I started Friday evening and worked very hard in a half hour to make 2 QSOs. It was not fun so I went to bed. To me 20m was noisy on Sat and other family obligations got in the way of operating time. Sunday also had family obligations, but I was able to sneak away for a few hours of all S&P. Conditions were better. The CW flavor of this contest was more fun. Come on sun spots. 73, :) PK (Paul - K3MZ K2 #3135 K3 #84) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3NCO Class: SOSB/40 LP Total Score = 24 When I got home Sunday night there was still some time left in the contest. So I turned everything on and hopped on 40 meters, no recorded messages, etc., but at least the logging program was up and running. Set the rig for split and for dual-watch (although the pot doesn't work for that). As I talked, I could watch the TUNE light on the 756 blinking - and blinking - and blinking. Well, I don't often run way up in the phone band (the split was on 7299), maybe I had never memorized a setting. But after a while I noticed I couldn't hear anything. I don't mean the guy I was trying to work - I mean anything! Switch various features off/on, swapping VFOs, etc.. brought back the receive audio, but then I got TUNE blinking again. Finally switched the power meter to reflected and OOPS! the SWR was somewhat north of 6:1. Switching to the 40/80 Inv Vee (a NW/SE antenna) brought everything back to life. Managed to work all of 4 guys in the last 20 minutes of the contest. Monday morning I lowered the dipole to discover the temporary (hmm, 4 years?) center insulator had twisted around the coax, which had pretty much shed all of its foam insulation and was shorting out to a few strands of the braid. The 40 meter dipole was the only wire antenna that survived a wind storm last year, and all the other antennas had been rebuilt/replaced. Monday night was spent cleaning up the old center insulator from the inverted vee (unceremoniously chopped free of its feedline and wires by a group of tree guys last summer) and prepping a stack of three 2.4" toroids for a new balun. This evening was when the dipole was to be repaired, but no sooner then I walk out the back door with tools in hand, but it starts to rain. Snip! the feedline is severed from the antennas - cable prep could be done indoors - including attaching the PL-259 to the center insulator, covering it all up in coax-seal, and suspending the balun core from a piece of line off the center screw-eye to reduce strain on the connector. In the now fading light I separate the loop of line that runs through the pulley on the tower and attach it to the new center insulator and screw one side of the dipole onto the center insulator. I can barely see what I am doing (and it's still raining), but it sure looks like this is going to work. HA! Murphy strikes again as the head of the brass screw on the other side shears off while attempting to attach the other half of the dipole. Since this is now becoming a novel, I will skip to the point of eventually declaring victory (with mini flashlight in mouth). Final checkout will have to wait for daylight so i can see if I got it raised all the way up, and how much tension i have on the ends, but it is showing the expected 1.5:1 SWR at resonance (in the CW portion of the band, of course). Maybe next year... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3PP Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 988,416 Well, I can say two things. One is the obvious, "Ugh!" I need not bemoan what we all know already about conditions. The second is, "Hey! It was a blast to compete anyway!" Despite falling short of my million-point-plus expectations, we all suffered similarly and it looks like I'm in a pretty decent position. I tried the online score tracking for the first time. It added an extra dimension to the weekend! Thanks to EVERYONE, DX and the competition alike! Whine if you want, but I had fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 1,329,378 Proves my point, if I operate less than 45 hours I won't have a big score. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 233,700 TH6DXX, Alpha 78, 1 KW, TH6DXX, zepp, dipole, inverted vee, "t" vertical. Time was limited and conditions seemed pretty bad on all bands. High power line noise most of the time. Was able to "run" a little on 20M on Sunday, but not on Saturday and not on any other band. Surely, it will be better next year. Thanks for all the QSOs. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4DLI Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 169,290 Only worked about 12.5 hrs of contest. 160-meters not very good. Lots of noise Rig Orion II Amp Amp Supply LK-800A Antennas: 4-element SteppIR at 70 feet 136-foot dipole feed with Ladder line and Johnson KW Matchbox at 60 feet Vertical Loop on 160-meters, bottom on ground. All in all a good contest. wish I could have spent more time--especially during the night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EU Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 275,520 Thanks for the Q's.... 73....//Steve K4EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 76,518 Yaesu FT-897D 100 W Dipole Antenna 218 contacts 684 points 123 multipliers TI50DX - 4 BANDS out of 6 Had a great time! USed N1MM Logger for the first time in a contest - that log does wonderful things for you. Now all I need is a tower, staqcked monobanders and a 20Kw AMP AND i ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 51,900 Abysmal conditions, perhaps the worst I've ever seen in a DX contest. I received report after report of my "huge signal" on 20 meters, but calling CQ was never effective during time I was on. It was fun to do some casual S&P for a change, and I enjoyed my short time on the air. Spent some time listening to 8P1A and a few other experts running 'em. We had a gorgeous weekend in Tennessee, and I spent much of it outside with the chain saw. It sounded like this was the year to be down south in CA & SA. The pileup on VP2E at the end sure was a rush. Managed to make the QSO a couple of minutes before the ending bell. What fun chaos! 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4SSU Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 841,491 It was great to work our friends @ TI50DX and TI8M in Costa Rica on 6 bands. Dave doesn't have a 10 meter antenna up yet so I bypassed the amp and used the radio to tune one of the wire antennas at probably 10 w out - enough to make a few q's on that band. Amazing the # of Australian 2 X 4 calls that we were able to work on 40m running only 10 watts. Worked RW6HJO running 1 watt on 20m. Thx for the q's and especially to Dave and Gayle for letting me play radio again this weekend. 73 Brian NA4BW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 118,779 Casual operating - just takin'it easy. 20/15/10 Hexbeam @ 32', 40 a 2 el diamond shaped wire quad top @ 50' fed at bottom, 80 an inv vee @ 40' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 91,140 Ant - G5RV 75 ft up in trees Rig - Ten Tec Omni VI Amp - Ten Tec Centurion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XD Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 341,178 Wow, my ears hurt. It's like trying to hear someone whispering to you from 3 feet away while you're in the fifth row of an Aerosmith concert in full blast. Actually it's more like being at the junction of several loud concerts going on at the same time. Only problem is that you can't just nod politely, it's really important to understand that whisper! I did improve a little bit over last year's score, but Sunday was a really slow slog. I could barely keep the rate up to 20/hour. I was thinking I would reach 800 or even 900 QSO's, but obviously never came close. It was all S&P -- I tried CQ'ing from time to time but never had a single reply. Actually I had one reply but even though he answered my CQ and I responded, we never finished the QSO, I assume due to QRM. From my "stream of consciousness" notes taken during the test: I keep "grooming" the bandmap, removing obviously busted spots. I must have deleted "AP1A" ten times -- people kept spotting 8P1A that way. Think, think, think -- why would they not say "Aye Poppa One Alpha" instead of "Alpha Poppa One Alpha" if it really was AP1A? While most of the time people spit out their calls in a flash hoping to catch the CQ'ers attention in the pile, I noticed many times that saying the call slowly gets an answer when saying it fast doesn't. ZL3A booming in on 40M Saturday - like a local AM station. We really seem to have a good path from NC to NZ. Sunday morning at 1320 -- slow slow slow -- <10/hour rate!! Band has been milked (by me anyway). Finally worked a PA, for some reason hard from here. Most butchered call on the cluster: TI5 zero DX I saw: T5 zero DX T5 oh DX TI5 oh DX TI5 oh X T Oscar 5A must have been spotted a dozen times as T Zero 5A Can't wait to see the UBN on that one. "Did I really work him"? QRM and QSB galore: Him: contest Me: Kilo Four Xray Delta Him: Kilo Four Xray Delta 59 Kilowatt Me: Thanks 59 North Carolina, November Charlie, North Carolina Him: contest ???? Trying different antennas helps. The hexbeam is usually the champ on 20-10, but 9K2K was booming on it and I might as well have been calling QRP. Switched to the 160M inv L which tunes up on 20M, and snagged him on the second call. So that stuff you read about takeoff angle and verticals is not all made up by people selling verticals... After swinging the beam between EU and XE/LU/PY the "quick reverse" feature of the SteppIR seems even more attractive. I do like the "Azimuth Sort" feature of WriteLog though, when I remember to use it it minimizes time spent rotating the hex. Set up the DVK in WriteLog and it works fine but stuck with live audio 99% of the time. The recording just didn't seem to cut it on S&P. Used narrowest filter yet - 1.4 / 1.5 most of test. vs. 1.9 in past. Guess my ears are adapting. Contesting: hours listening to weak signals in extreme noise. Greatest possible irony: Are any of us also into extreme fidelity stereo systems? FO5A/MM everywhere -- can't wait, having withdrawal from VP6DX I hear KI4GUO, Barry K4CZ's son running 'em like a pro!! Watch out Barry! Are microphones illegal in the Czech Republic? OK was my third most worked country in ARRL DX CW, zero in SSB! 1716 What a slog, I've been on for 4:30 hours and only 81 Q's. Found a neat feature of DX Lab - Spot Collector has a spot statistics window that shows spots by band and in real-time. Leave it up on the screen and you can notice when the spots start zooming in for a given band, without having to keep going to that band to look. Finished with a flourish on 80M after a very slow period on 40M. Found a number of stations on 80M that I could work on one call. And then it was all over... Thanks everyone for the good ears and the Q's -- see you next time! 73, Rowland K4XD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4ZW Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,858,350 I think K3ZO summed it up best on his post to the PVRC reflector by borrowing Thomas Paine's line "These are the times that try mens' souls..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ER Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 224,910 Paused three times first night for lightning storms w/i a mile. Gave up after 3rd time and slept. Surprised that 15 and 10 meters outpaced 40 and 80. Noise and missing part of 1st night certainly contributed. Also worked almost twice as many SA than EU. Guess a dedicated antenna pointed SE will be in the future. This proved again that [particularly from Louisiana], antenna that are fine for domestic contests and way low for DX 'tests. (Didn't W3LPL mention that several years ago?) Seemed like a tough one, but then again, a rough weekend of contesting beats a good weekend of yardwork! See you in the WPX. 73, Mark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5EWJ Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 144,381 Propagation is still not good. I did not hear any openings to Europe or Africa on ten or fifteen. 160 and 80 were pretty noisy, but I did manage several contacts. I was able to work nearly all of the stations that I could tell were there, mostly the multi-multi DX stations. I am still intrigued that stations will use recorded CQers with such poor quality that it requires listening several times to figure out their call sign. Almost all of my duplicate contacts were because I interpreted the call sign differently on the dupe contact. Having the CQ in a different voice than the operator's makes the transition very difficult as well. But, I still had a great time. It is fun to break the pileups with 50 to 80 watts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5GO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,058,694 Odd conditions.... Perhaps a lack of activity from Europe - not sure. I would have given 25 to 1 odds on a lot of money betting that I would work at least one station in either England OR Germany on 40M and would have lost the bet. I would not have taken those same odds betting that I would work as many VK stations as I did on the same band or would have lost that one also. I felt bad for the USA stations who didn't understand and would call using split frequency in the CW band on 40M to give me a contact. Having two or three very weak USA stations call in on Sunday afternoon on 20M, and being very tired, especially of digging for another /wet noodle USA station, another American voice called. Instead of trying very hard to get his call, I kept asking him if he was in the United States. He was persistent and kept calling over and over. Finally with the help of a preamp I got his call - XU7ACY. That provided a little excitement for me. It was fun to move the multipliers around - best move was during a "run" of 5 Australians on 80M V31XX called in and gave me a new one on that band. We then moved to 40M and 160M and I was back within two minutes to finish the "run" of the last two Australians. It has probably been at least 30 years since I worked a Phone DX Contest single operator, if I ever did it. Slept exactly 1.5 hours from 10:20 PM until 11:50PM Saturday night. Regardless of the conditions, I had fun using the station and tried as hard as I could. 73 and thanks to the DX for the contacts. Stan, K5GO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KG Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 93,366 Part time effort using only SteppIR Big Vertical and inv vee on 75m. Lots of fun for a contest that I was not going to work! Hope to have my 40m and triband yagis back up on the tower by next month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,212,492 This contest will always be remembered my myself and our operators as the "Contest from Hell". I don't ever remember conditions for this contest being this poor. Some of the low points while trying a serious effort in this ARRL DX Phone Contest were; our lowest score ever, not making 100 countries on 20M for the first time ever, and our lowest QSO total ever. Add to that the extra bonus of having a serious line noise problem that showed up and affected every band 160M through 10M. But the operators were motoviated to make the best of things and they worked hard for what we got. I think if I had been a single operator, I would have just given up. A big "thank you" to our operators K2UR, AB5K, KU5B, and KG5U, who all stayed with it in spite of conditions and circumstances. We were able to run only a little and most of our QSOs were search and pounce. Everyone seemed to be on 20M and it was impossible for us to find a clear space and to hear on that band. We tried to run there but with poor success. So we relied heavely on packet spots and finding our own QSOs by search and pouncing. We were able to do a little running on 15M and 40M, but mostly to Japan. The activity level seemed way down, or maybe it was the conditions that made it seem that way. I think band conditions can only get better after this. I sure hope so! 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 698,544 The station at K5TR: http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/ 160 meters: - sloping vertical from 120', fixed E - sloping vertical from 120', fixed W 80 meters: - Sloping dipole from 120', fixed NE - Sloping dipole from 120', fixed NW 40 meters: - two element Force 12 yagi at 120', rotatable - two element Cushcraft yagi at 90', rotatable 20 meters: - six element 44' boom yagi at 80', rotatable - six element 44' boom yagi at 80', fixed NE - six element 44' boom yagi at 40', fixed NW - four element Cushcraft 32' boom yagi at 60', fixed SE 15 meters: - six element 36' boom yagi at 70', rotatable - six element 36' boom yagi at 35', fixed NE - four element Cushcraft yagi at 50', fixed SE 10 meters: - six element 24' boom yagi at 60', rotatable - six element 24' boom yagi at 30', fixed NE - four element Cushcraft yagi at 45', fixed SE - three element yagi at 20', fixed W Receiving antennas: - Four 500' long Beverages fixed NE, NW, SE, SW SOAPBOX: Radio 1: Kenwood TS-850SAT, Ameritron AL-1500 Radio 2: Kenwood TS-850SAT, Ameritron AL-1200 Headset: Heil Proset HC-4 DVK: W9XT Contest Card Software: TR Log 6.78 Other: Ameritron RCS-8V antenna switches, ICE bandpass filters, Top Ten Devices Band Decoders, homebrew audio switchbox Thanks to George for letting me use his station again. This was the first time I've operated this contest in the Single Operator, All Band category. When I've entered in the past, it's always been in the Multi-Operator or a Single Operator, Single Band category. This was also my first ever 48-hour single operator DX contest effort. 40 meters and 80 meters seemed better on the first night than the second night. In particular, I had a great run on 40 meters to Japan and Oceania on the first night from about 0700 UTC to about 1000 UTC that was a lot of fun. Although I kept checking, I never heard 20 meters open over the north pole as it sometimes does in the 0800 UTC to 1100 UTC time frame on either night. 20 meters to Europe was a lot better for me on Sunday than it was on Monday, but I never felt like it was a very good opening on either day. For the most part, it was thin to northern and eastern Europe. I didn't hear or work a single station from Finland, even! 15 meters was open both days, primarily to the Caribbean and South America. Saturday evening, I was able to work some Japanese stations on the band as well, which is always fun. If 10 meters was open on Saturday, I missed it, as almost all of my 10 meter QSOs were on Sunday afternoon to Central America, South America, and only parts of the Caribbean. I probably did not have the best sleep strategy. In retrospect, the 90 minutes I took off in the 2100 UTC hour Saturday was a mistake, as I had ample time to sleep the second night. Things were so slow on the low bands that I feel like my five hours of sleep then probably lost me fewer than 20 potential contacts total. In fact, I woke up sometime in the 1100 UTC hour, tuned through all three open bands, found not one new station to call, and decided to go back to sleep. One of the amplifiers stopped functioning on Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure what happened, but the meter showed no high voltage. I operated the remainder of the contest with just one amplifier. It seems like I need to work more on getting multipliers into the log. 2008 ARRL International DX Contest, Phone HR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOTAL SCORE -- ----- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------ --------- ----- 0 --- --- 5/5 57/10 1/1 --- 63/16 63/16 0.00M 1 --- --- 9/7 26/4 --- --- 35/11 98/27 0.01M 2 --- 3/3 13/7 3/0 --- --- 19/10 117/37 0.01M 3 5/5 17/13 8/3 --- --- --- 30/21 147/58 0.02M 4 3/2 14/11 12/2 --- --- --- 29/15 176/73 0.03M 5 2/2 9/7 6/4 --- --- --- 17/13 193/86 0.04M 6 1/1 1/1 23/3 --- --- --- 25/5 218/91 0.05M 7 2/2 1/1 38/1 --- --- --- 41/4 259/95 0.07M 8 --- 2/1 57/1 --- --- --- 59/2 318/97 0.08M 9 --- 5/3 29/4 --- --- --- 34/7 352/104 0.10M 10 --- --- 16/2 --- --- --- 16/2 368/106 0.11M 11 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 368/106 0.11M 12 --- 1/0 2/1 --- --- --- 3/1 371/107 0.11M 13 --- 3/0 --- 41/25 --- --- 44/25 415/132 0.15M 14 --- --- --- 36/9 13/7 --- 49/16 464/148 0.19M 15 --- --- --- 25/2 21/5 --- 46/7 510/155 0.22M 16 --- --- --- 39/4 4/1 1/1 44/6 554/161 0.24M 17 --- --- --- 25/4 15/8 --- 40/12 594/173 0.28M 18 --- --- --- 25/2 6/1 --- 31/3 625/176 0.29M 19 --- --- --- 48/4 --- --- 48/4 673/180 0.32M 20 --- --- --- 17/0 --- --- 17/0 690/180 0.33M 21 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 690/180 0.33M 22 --- --- --- 12/4 21/7 --- 33/11 723/191 0.37M 23 --- --- 6/1 --- 53/2 1/0 60/3 783/194 0.41M 0 --- --- 8/3 22/2 --- --- 30/5 813/199 0.44M 1 --- 1/1 2/2 6/1 --- --- 9/4 822/203 0.45M 2 --- 2/0 3/0 --- --- --- 5/0 827/203 0.45M 3 4/4 2/1 7/0 --- --- --- 13/5 840/208 0.47M 4 1/1 3/0 4/0 --- --- --- 8/1 848/209 0.48M 5 2/1 3/1 1/0 --- --- --- 6/2 854/211 0.48M 6 --- 1/0 3/2 --- --- --- 4/2 858/213 0.49M 7 --- --- 1/0 --- --- --- 1/0 859/213 0.49M 8 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 859/213 0.49M 9 --- 1/0 --- --- --- --- 1/0 860/213 0.49M 10 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 860/213 0.49M 11 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 860/213 0.49M 12 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 860/213 0.49M 13 --- --- --- 18/0 --- --- 18/0 878/213 0.50M 14 --- --- --- 38/1 --- --- 38/1 916/214 0.52M 15 --- --- --- 25/3 --- --- 25/3 941/217 0.54M 16 --- --- --- 34/0 --- --- 34/0 975/217 0.56M 17 --- --- --- 24/0 --- --- 24/0 999/217 0.57M 18 --- --- --- 24/0 6/2 --- 30/2 1029/219 0.59M 19 --- --- --- 4/1 1/0 29/5 34/6 1063/225 0.63M 20 --- --- --- --- --- 24/5 24/5 1087/230 0.66M 21 --- --- --- 4/0 7/0 12/0 23/0 1110/230 0.67M 22 --- --- --- 24/1 7/0 --- 31/1 1141/231 0.69M 23 --- --- --- 17/0 --- --- 17/0 1158/231 0.70M D1 13/12 56/40 224/41 354/68 134/32 2/1 783/194 D2 7/6 13/3 29/7 240/9 21/2 65/10 375/37 TO 20/18 69/43 253/48 594/77 155/34 67/11 1158/231 Continent List 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL --- -- -- -- -- -- --- USA calls = 1 5 7 106 0 0 119 VE calls = 0 1 0 30 0 0 31 N.A. calls = 11 30 26 57 22 5 151 S.A. calls = 6 12 20 41 75 62 216 Euro calls = 1 14 32 284 0 0 331 Afrc calls = 0 2 5 10 0 0 17 Asia calls = 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 JA calls = 0 3 120 54 46 0 223 Ocen calls = 1 2 43 10 12 0 68 --------------------------------------------------------- Total calls = 20 69 253 594 155 67 1158 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ZD Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,060,380 A difficult weekend of conditions, but probably not the worst of all time (i.e., I can remember worse!). Operated a bit here and there. Was SO1R - didn't even turn on the second radio until late on Sunday. 160 was great the first night at Europe sunrise. Many of the stations that called me were S9 on the meter! Saturday morning produced a few big hours on 20m. After that, it was a decision to call lots of CQs or tune for QSOs. Sunday morning on 20m had a number of very loud YB stations answer my CQs. Worked a handful of Europeans on 15m Sunday morning. Nice year to skip doing a serious effort. Operated more than I meant to just because I was trying to get to a 3 digit number of QSOs on each band! :( Thanks for all of the Europeans who were willing to brave the QRM of 20m. Never worked so many stations from the Netherlands. Worked my first JA in the next to last hour of the contest. 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total % NA 12 25 16 35 25 1 114 8.8 EU 31 79 79 793 14 0 996 77.2 AF 2 5 2 6 4 0 19 1.5 SA 4 12 16 32 51 8 123 9.5 OC 0 2 4 4 3 0 13 1.0 AS 0 0 0 24 0 0 24 1.9 QSO/DX by hour and band Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime 04Z 13/13 37/26 - - - - 50/39 50/39 05Z 23/14 24/10 - - - - 47/24 97/63 06Z - 5/3 11/7 - - - 16/10 113/73 41 07Z - - - - - - 0/0 113/73 60 08Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 113/73 60 09Z - - - - - - 0/0 113/73 60 10Z - - - - - - 0/0 113/73 60 11Z - - - - - - 0/0 113/73 60 12Z - - 5/5 53/24 7/3 - 65/32 178/105 23 13Z - - - 162/21 - - 162/21 340/126 14Z - - - 36/4 7/5 - 43/9 383/135 42 15Z - - - 178/11 - - 178/11 561/146 16Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 28/6 9/5 1/1 38/12 599/158 35 17Z - - - 13/0 13/3 - 26/3 625/161 21 18Z - - - - - - 0/0 625/161 60 19Z - - - - - - 0/0 625/161 60 20Z - - - 13/7 21/5 - 34/12 659/173 32 21Z - - - 3/2 - 2/2 5/4 664/177 56 22Z - - 41/18 - 6/3 3/1 50/22 714/199 5 23Z - - - - - - 0/0 714/199 60 00Z --+-- --+-- 7/1 --+-- --+-- --+-- 7/1 721/200 52 01Z - 1/0 - 1/0 - - 2/0 723/200 55 02Z 1/1 10/6 5/1 - - - 16/8 739/208 28 03Z - - - - - - 0/0 739/208 60 04Z 1/1 - - - - - 1/1 740/209 59 05Z 9/4 12/4 - - - - 21/8 761/217 06Z 2/1 27/3 2/1 - - - 31/5 792/222 07Z - - 3/2 - - - 3/2 795/224 57 08Z --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- --+-- 0/0 795/224 60 09Z - - - - - - 0/0 795/224 60 10Z - - - - - - 0/0 795/224 60 11Z - - - - - - 0/0 795/224 60 12Z - - 5/2 93/2 - - 98/4 893/228 11 13Z - - - 136/3 3/3 - 139/6 1032/234 14Z - - - 4/0 8/4 - 12/4 1044/238 42 15Z - - - 19/2 12/7 - 31/9 1075/247 9 16Z --+-- --+-- --+-- 22/0 2/0 1/0 25/0 1100/247 36 17Z - - - 41/1 - - 41/1 1141/248 36 18Z - - - - - - 0/0 1141/248 60 19Z - - - - - - 0/0 1141/248 60 20Z - - - 56/3 3/1 2/1 61/5 1202/253 15 21Z - - 20/6 11/0 6/3 - 37/9 1239/262 22Z - - 18/7 26/4 - - 44/11 1283/273 23Z - 7/1 - - - - 7/1 1290/274 Tot: 49/34 123/53 117/50 895/90 97/42 9/5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6AM Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 215,340 Ahh...Another weekend of yelling my brains out trying to be heard with 100 W and a dipole on 40. Hey you go with what ya got. Only 2 EU's worked on 20, TM1C and GW4BLE. Congrats to you both for hearing me. Could never get any JA's to answer my CQ's on 40 although the ones calling CQ were very loud. Even so, when I went to bed Sat night, I was ahead of last year's west coast low power leader. Finished about 60 K ahead of last year. 15 meters was pretty good with a short run to JA and 10 was really open to the south on Sat with wery big signals. CU you all in Visalia and in May at ZF1A. John, K6AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CSL Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 2,052 I wonder where those new Cycle 24 Sunspots are. I sure could have used some. I believe this is the worst ARRL DX Phone I've ever seen! I sure hope conditions are better for next year. Bert, K6CSL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 28,329 Murphy struck me very early in the form of car troubles on Thursday night, so I wasn't home on early Friday to switch my feedline from my 160m antenna to my 40m inverted vee. So, I couldn't work 40 on Friday night. I got on 160 instead, and only worked the XE. My goal was to make 200 QSO's, and I failed at that. 15m had a mediocre opening on Saturday, and 10m was open too. I did very well on 40 on Saturday night, but I struggled on 80, and did very poorly there compared to last year. I might have had some bad interaction between my 160m antenna and my 80m dipole. In reading my last year's report, I saw that we had Santa Ana winds. Well, it happened again!!! Sunday morning the winds kicked up around 30 MPH. Noise levels on 20 were S7 and S9 on 15! The winds were whipping about 50 MPH by contest end. ARGH! I didn't work any Europe or Africa. KH6LC and HC8A got the 5 band sweeps. Lots of 4 band sweeps. I didn't work any new countries, and I think I got about 4 band fillers, like CE on 40. Thanks to everyone for pulling my weak signal out of the noise. Software: N3FJP Logger Rig: FT-990 Ants: 160 meter inverted vee at 50 feet (reclined and collapsed) 80 meter sloping dipole at 50 feet 40 meter inverted vee at 50 feet 20 meter dipole at 20 feet 15 meter dipole at 25 feet 10 meter Ringo Ranger vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6IDX Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 352,500 These were the worst conditions we have ever experienced. At least we got a lot of work done around the station during the weekend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6III Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 9,588 Just passing out a few points. Started out to do a single-band 75m, but I thought conditions were not good at all. Low wire and Butternut Vert (not tuned for 75m). So Sunday afternoon I H&P my way thru 10, 15 & 20, making spots as I went. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 96,102 Mostly S/P. Never heard much of Europe. Good 10M opening was encouraging. Thanks for the Qs. 73, John K6MM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6RIM Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 54,378 Phone is not my bag, and conditions were lousy, at least during the few hours that I stuck around. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6RM Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 2,332 QRP and low dipoles. I was recently surprised with a piece of paper that said I actually WON this category in SCV section last year - as the only entry! At least this year I really worked for any place I might earn! Big THANKS to those who struggled to dig out the peanut whistle sig!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6TD Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,632 Heard 15m open Sunday 19:30Z, so made a few QSOs. 73 K6TD/KR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 77,112 Kinda a bust for Europe on saturday only had 6 countries after that day..sunday a little better, but all in all tough slugging to get q's, Africa and Pacific also not much going on, not much asia, thanks to the JA boys for holding their part up hi..had fun no matter how the condtions were..thanks for the q's..cu next year... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7EG Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 76,200 Had a ball breaking in new Elecraft K3. EU was light. Asia was OK. N-S path was the best into CA & SA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7KR Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 97,446 I've been off the air for the last 5 months or so. I started a two week shack remodel that turned into a project from you know where. Note to self. Forget it next time you get the bright idea of ripping out all the shack wiring and starting afresh. Guess I'll have to file a delay claim against myself, hi hi. Anyway, I was looking forward to getting on for this one even though some needed antenna work remains. Soon after the contest started, my logging computer decided to spontaneously reboot. After it happened again, it was clear that a trip to the junque box was in order. After a liberal application of ferrites the computer settled down. Kept wondering where the Europeans were though. I finally heard one of the 9A super stations that is normally S9 or better. Unfortunately, it was necessary to snorkel under the noise surface to snag him. Knew right then that it was going to be a long weekend. Very few EU and AF stations were even heard let alone made it into the log. Condx to JA seemed pretty good, but a persistent power line arc on my western side meant that anyone heard had to be at least S9 or better. Obviously didn't bother trying to start any runs as I'd have just been an alligator. On the plus side, there were huge numbers of SA to be worked and they were astonishingly loud often with very modest power. It was also nice to hear lots of VK/ZL stations on 40m. Even heard some mini pileups on Midwest and East coast stations, but they often didn't hear them call. Evidently the US stations were beaming JA so they couldn't hear the VK's. Also 10m began to show some life too with many loud stations running low power. Now that the sunspots are on the upswing things will only get better! Thanks to all for the Q's. Still a lot of fun in spite of the conditions! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RL Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 711,846 Whoa, that was really tough. Worst conditions I’ve ever experienced. My raw score is less than half of last year’s score, and only slightly more than half of my CW score just two weeks ago. A rotator problem Saturday morning burned 1.5 hours, which didn’t help matters. On a positive note, I did get more sleep than in previous years! With so much time for S&P, I periodically ran out of new stations to work and had to take short breaks to let the bands repopulate. That was especially true on the low bands, which were very poor the entire weekend. Even the usually reliable 20m band was a roller coaster ride with runs starting and stopping, and signals rising and falling from hour-to-hour. An unexpected surprise was running JA on 15m both days. Until today, it had been so long that I almost forgot what it was like to run anything on 15m. Nice to hear some life on 10m too. Thank you to all of the great operators that made it into the log. Especially you folks working LP or QRP! And a special thanks to those that make the trek to exotic locations to work us stateside and Canadian ops. Congratulations to KH7X, KH6LC, and HC8A for all six bands! Not an easy thing to do this weekend. 73 de Mitch, K7RL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7WP Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 136,068 FT 1000MP / Alpha 76 / Force 12 6BA / 160/80 Sloper Part time effort due to a very full weekend, but always great to get into the fray for a while...thanks for all the Q's! Great to have the JA runs, particularly on 40m. Very few EU, unfortunately. Best 73, CU next time... John K7WP .. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 2,898 My station is not really setup for DX contesting. All the wire antenna's are less than 30' high and the 2 ele tribander is only 20' up on a pipe attached to the back of the garage. Casually operating I worked almost everyone I heard. See you in June for the VHF Contest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ZSD Class: M/M HP Total Score = 930,198 The weekend here at Smoke Ranch was mostly spent eating, drinking, laughing, and working on amp projects in the shop. We had a great group of guys coming and going the entire weekend. In addition to the above we all took turns sitting in front of two radios going up and down, and up and down, and up and down the amateur bands. At times we called CQ and had a few good runs. Someone took some great photos of fellows sleeping in front of radios in the middle of the night. Thank you Asia for all the contacts, without you we would have broken the record for the fewest QSOs in a DX contest for a multi station. On the subject of multi, could someone explain why multi two is limited to 6 band changes per hour? The only way we could maintain a middle of the night rate of 8 QSOs per hour was to change bands eight times. So we will submit our score as a multi multi. DX Contesting from the Pacific Northwest at the bottom of the cycle is an exercise in patience mastered only by those who enjoy watching paint dry. As always, we had a great time, and Ruth and I thank all who stopped by and spent the weekend operating, and to all those who worked us, thank you. Brad K7ZSD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8GL Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 286,110 Part time due to work commitments. Worked only one QRP station (CO6LP)...a sign of the poor conditions. Thanks to all the DX who stuck it out. TM6M had best signal from Europe. K8GL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB1H Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 1,787,445 We figured how to beat the lousy band conditions. Do a M/2 contest with basically three operators! Not much rest time. The Run meter says only 42.65 hours on, 5.4 off. I am sure some of that is just not finding any QSOs but we did take sometime off in the slooooow morning hours. Forced to three ops (K1EBY was here 7 hours overnight Saturday/Sunday)by sickness, bad back, and a snow storm it was time for iron butts in the chairs. We tried to OPON and the statistics show KB1H for 41 hours, W1TJL for 38 hours, AA1CE for 36 hours, and K1EBY for 7 hours. Best rates were 57 minutes Sunday on 20M of 119/hr for KB1H and 48 minutes Sunday on 20M of a 118/hr by W1TJL. Maximum total per hour were 115. If I ever doubted W1TJL as a runner it was proved wrong this weekend. W1TJL and KB1H ran on 14160 Sunday for almost 8 hours. Great ears goes to JA1EYL who not only dug us out of the noise on 40M but also on 80M. Thanks for all the QSOs and we hope to get the new 150 foot tower up this year so we do not have to be limited to a 4-Square on 40M. See you all in the WPX contest where we will use the Barnstormers callsign NZ1U. 73 - Dick , KB1H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 91,719 Busy both days, but put in some nightime efforts, plus a little on Sunday morning. Tried to spread around the time on different bands. Never was on when 10 was open. For some reason, JA was not hearing me on 40, but I worked them on 80. Vy odd. Cu! -Al ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD9MS Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 195,372 Really missed Europe on 15 this year. I'm glad 10 opened up here in the black hole for a few hours. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE3D Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 170,166 My upgraded antenna worked until Sunday when the rotor slipped, and slipped etc. But this is my best yet from Texas. Condx Sunday was not quite like Saturday! Most ops seemed fairly happy except for the SSTV, 14300, and the 75 mtr ragchew bunches. I had a good time and if I ever get the rotor to stay fixed thru a contest I'll be competitive. Regards to all and thanks to the DX. Ed KE3D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE5LQ Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 75,210 Conditions were the worst that I can remember in a long time. (I've been regularly participating since 1985). During a contest with poor conditions, you begin to wonder: 1.) Did Europe boycott this contest? Heard only superstations. 2.) Why do some stations continually change frequency within a band thereby causing frustration when you realize that you haven't found a new one, but have tuned in for the umpteenth time to the same Caribbean/South American/Central American/West African station that you worked during the first hour. 3.) It is amazing how quickly ten meters opens for an hour and then just as quickly fades away. 4.) Conditions must really be bad when a JA is causing a pileup on 20 during the last hour of the contest. 5.) If I spent all that time cutting and laying out a new set of radials for the vertical right before the contest start, why are the received signals weaker than the low dipole?. Answer: If the quick-connect coax connector is slightly corroded it doesn’t make good contact. I finally diagnosed the problem on Sunday morning. Last year we rented a beach cabin in South Texas and the family was able to do their thing while I played radio. The proximity to the sea didn't hurt the signal either and our score was much better. We planned to do the same thing this year and made the reservations well in advance. A trip to France interfered with our plans so I decided to operate from home this year. I was beginning to wonder if I was in a propagation black hole. Despite all the trouble, it was still challenging and fun to operate my favorite contest again I operate a very modest station in a deed restriced neighborhood. Rig: Icom IC-718, Hy-Gain Trap Vertical and Stealth Dipole 20 Ft. high See you next year, 73, Jim, KE5LQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6/AA4V Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 102,102 One definition of insanity is doing the same action over and over again and expecting a different result. That's how I felt after calling CQ Soooo many times and being mostly greeted with silence. Radio conditions at Keauhou Bay were fairly poor this year. Take into consideration that I am located on the western side of the Big Island and the path is blocked to the North, East and South by three (count 'em) volcanos (Hualalai, 8,271 ft, Mauna Kea, 13,796 ft and Mauna Loa, 13,679 ft). Throw in low power AND a Perth Outbacker vertical (12 feet tall) with radials and you also can call yourself a masochist as well. Being on the west side of the island, it was very easy to attract all manner of stations in Asia and Oceania. I was called by many JAs and others who rightly thought Hawaii is just another state. Since I was not very busy working mainland and VE stations, I had plenty of time to explain to them that in this contest KH6 and KL7 are not states but DX. In any event, many thanks to those who actually heard me and took the time to give me a contact. A special thanks to those who spotted me which usually resulted in another two or three contacts in a row. I tried S&P often and had the likes of W3LPL and others continue to CQ in my face. Aloha from Paradise and Mahalo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6LC Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 3,232,242 First, great thanks to Lloyd, KH6LC, for allowing me to use his super FB station in Paradise! I used my new Elecraft K3 for the first half of the contest and absolutely love it. It's what a contest radio should be. Given conditions, rates were never that fantastic, a few periods of higher rates but they weren't sustainable. My best 60 minute rate was 272, with numerous 10 minute rates of 375+/HR but it just wouldn't hold. It seemed like there just weren't that many people on the bands. I had hoped the sunspot that appeared earlier in the week would have helped conditions, but even at this time of the cycle, the low bands were poor. I didn't hear much at all the first night on 160M, and the second night was extremely noisy, so I slept instead! A 2 element yagi on 75M worked well once the band opened but again, just not that many people on the band. 40M didn't produce like I had hoped either (probably because I didn't spend too much time there), and 10M actually opened both days! A big mahalo to everyone who worked me in the contest and especially to the few 6-banders. It was grueling but definitely fun! 73, Jeff, N6GQ @ KH6LC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH7B Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 584,100 Wow, this contest is fun when you are on the DX side! I set out to break the old Oceania record of 420K for 20 meters hoping to make 2500 QSOs. What a surprise! First hour was 330 and by the end of the first three hours the total was 782. My first contest with my three high stack of KT36XAs. A tip of the hat to N6BV who helped with the terrain analysis..it works, K6MYA who makes a great antenna, and WX0B who makes the stack match box which really works great with the triband stack. Some thoughts: Over 200 dupes logged, and many more turned away toward the end of the contest. Does anyone keep a dupe sheet anymore? Why do the weak guys not give their 2 X 3 call in phonetics? Why did a 2 X 1 extra say "10-4" when I asked him if he copied my exchange? Mahalo to all for the QSOs and see you in WPXSSB! Bill K4XS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH7Y Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 273,321 This has to be the bottom!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI1G Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 1,626,552 This was the worst propagation that I can remember in recent memory. What a slugfest 20 Meters turned into. I even had to listen split on 20 meters so I could copy the stations calling. Hopefully this was the bottom of the cycle..... Congrats to everyone who stayed in the operating chair this weekend. 73 Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI4VEU Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 30,336 I need an amp and a better antenna...heard N4ZZ everywhere, but he was busting the pileups that I couldn't! Might try SO2R next contest... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI9A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 81,180 Icom 756 P3 Heath SB1000 @ 500w Cushcraft A3 @ 25' G5RV @ 45' GAP Voyager vertical tough condx, messed around about 5 hrs chasing friends on the islands. Many times seemed like 1 way propagation, normally, I work what I hear, any band. This time, there were S9 EU calling CQ in my face. But, it was sunny & 75 today here! ;-) Come on cycle 24! 73-Chuck KI9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KL8DX Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 37,185 Wow, what extremes! Saturday was nothing but rough. Solar wind was well over 790 km/s and the bands were less than poor. Enter Sunday! I heard some signals early in the morning but mostly west coast. And by late morning, the propagation returned and after lunch, 20 meters was HOT! Standing room only. During the slow times, I had a few minutes to chat and especially enjoyed a few minutes with Bruce, N0KIS and Allen, N5XZ. Comic relief was provided by W2NQ later on! Thanks, John! Sure made the slow times less painful! Best audio from my end would be given to W7BJN. I worked several QRP stations from the west coast. K8EB was QRP and working the contest from his deck with a local temp there of 45 degrees. I also worked several mobiles as far east as Montana! Some good sounding mobile set-ups out there! Sunday AM, I enjoyed a pipeline to MT! I worked several MT stations but never did work into WY. I did not work into 1 land at all!!! Other states missed; NJ, SC, LA, MS, WV, ND, and SD. As far as Canada, I only worked into BC & AB missing the rest. I did hear ON, but was never able to work em. My noise was quiet until Sunday at 1920z. I had some local QRN start and it remained with me for the duration of the contest. If I missed a station or two, sorry! With my NB in, the local noise along with some very strong adjacent stations, I am sure I missed a few. Heard several YL's on the band which was great! The last hour was probably the most exciting. I hit a rate of 169 Q's per hour during that last full hour of the contest. It was still not enough to remotely get close to AL1G. Congrats to Corliss for an outstanding job on 20!! I was excited to finally work WT8C back in my home state, too! The only Alaska station I heard on 20 was KL7OU, Debbie. She always had several people calling her. Great job, Debbie! In summary, SSB contests are my least favorite but the activity on Sunday sure made it fun! I am looking forward to the return of propagation to the 10 and 15 meter bands! I did hear some stations on 15 but I decided to stay put on 20 since the activity on 15 was mostly from Hawaii. I had several JA's try to work me as they thought we were AK and not DX. When I gave my power, many then realized AK was DX in this one. Thanks for the contacts! 73, Phil KL8DX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KP2M Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 4,275,510 Who stole 10M? First time ever with zero 10M QSO's. Station ran well - K3, 87A and some decent hardware in the air at this new station - KP2M. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KQ2M Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 64,758 Just a few hours of operating time with busted antennas, but still lots of fun. Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth as to how bad cndx were. Ok, here is a little perspective. In 1984 in ARRLDX Phone I was the 40 meter op at the M/2 of K2TR and used a 3/3 stack on 40. Even with all that hardware, cndx were still so horrendous (the K index was 8-9!) that I worked only SIX EU stations ALL WEEKEND, ALL SKEWPATH, with FOUR of them on Sunday afternoon! In addition, if I am remembering correctly, with a wire beam, we worked only ONE EU station on 80 the first night, a G3. There was a station in Louisiana that was running EU all night long on 80. He was the ONLY station running EU on 80! Cndx in this ARRLDX Phone were poor, but dramatically better than in 1984. That was the worst that I have ever heard! In a few years, these poor cndx will just be a bad memory and the most difficult problem will be what band to operate on! 73 and tnx for the q's. Bob KQ2M kq2m@earthlink.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR4F Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 333,558 Rig: ORION II, Titan 425 Antennas: TH-3 at 60 ft 40m rotatable dipole at 56 ft 80m inverted V at 50 ft 160m shunt-fed 60ft tower. Cndx grim, but any DX contest is better than no DX contest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT1I Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 5,700 Operated on and off. Thanks for the contacts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT1V Class: SOSB/160 HP Total Score = 12,831 Yow, do I have to do this again? Then again, it's my 3rd SB160 in ARRL SSB. Think I'll stick to CW for 160 :) A lot of work, and yes, fun was involved. I also read a good book and managed to see 5 (children's) hockey games this weekend too. The lack of sunspots didn't drive people to the lowbands, the bad conditions drove them off the air! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT4Q Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 163,908 Worked all on a Carolina Windom and a vertical. Lost my Antenna Tuner so had to shut down the amplifier and revert to low power about half way through. That felt like a punch in the belly. Rig: Yaesu FT-1000MP MV Amp: Ameritron AL-572 Ant: Carolina Windom/Beam 80 up 35ft Gap Titan Vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 304,722 Icom 756PRO, Ameritron AL811H 130 ft center fed zepp @ 35 ft, 40 meter vertical, 160 meter Inverted L 20 meter dipole @ 45 ft, 10 meter dipole @ 25 ft Terrible conditions!! Northern EU and Russia were no where to be found. 40 meters were mostly I and EA stations. The JA's I heard on 75 and 40 meters (JA1ELY and JA3YBK) couldn't hear anyone calling them from the east coast. I didn't work a DL on any band until I worked a few on Sunday morning on 20 meters. Worked only one EU on 160 meters - G4BUO. Activity was excellent from South America. I might have worked more SA stations than EU... 73, Jeff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 22,059 Well just bad timing eh? Those high solar winds did a number on the high bands all weekend. Kept thinking Sat that it would be better on Sunday. Sat held SA,CA,and OC prop oh and one JA(not in the log). No EU hr in NA(north ALabama) either day. I took it much less serious on Sunday as I was in and out of the shack CQ'ng endlessly with little return. Man the cost of energy vice QSO must be out of sight. All in all had a gud time with the silver lining being able to continue adapting to new xcvr. I think I am finally getting it "tweeked". TNX for all the QSO's. Condx where what they where regardless of my whining. Looking forward to WPX SSB coming up. 73 Tim, KY5R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LN3Z Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 53,268 Condx spoke for themself...all time worse. Spent a few hours on a noise crowded 20m band. When everybody need to be on the same band - the band just ain`t big enough for all of us..... Worked a few on 160/80m with my own callsign - will send checklog for these qsos. 73 Paul LA6YEA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LP1H Class: M/S HP Total Score = 3,751,236 Thank you for all HAMS whit comunicated whit LP1H, and turned your beams from South America listen us in the next WPX SSB CONTEST LP1H QSL VIA: EA5KB 73, LP1H TEAM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LS1D Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 424,800 was a great contest but it´s fun without storm. :P thanks for all called me, CU RDXC this weekend. 73 Tim LW9EOC/LS1D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LT1F Class: M/S HP Total Score = 3,341,520 We had a great weekend. Speacial thanls as always to Karl, LU1FKR for his friendship and endless support. Nice to have LU1AEE's son Marco LU7ACW. He's 14 y/o and already in love with CW and contesting. The 900 ft bev aimed at the States performed great. Heavy QRN did not prevent us from working quiet a good number of stations on the lower bands. Needless to say propagation was not at its best! Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lu5dx.cw 73, the ops at LT1F - 2008 ARRL INT'L SSB Contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU1FDU Class: SOSB/80 HP Total Score = 57,069 START-OF-LOG: 2.0 CREATED-BY: SD V13.39 and SDCHECK V13.39 ARRL-SECTION: DX CONTEST: ARRL-DX-SSB CALLSIGN: LU1FDU CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP 80M HIGH CLAIMED-SCORE: 57069 NAME: EZEQUIEL REINALDI ADDRESS: MENDOZA 566 ADDRESS: CP 2520 LAS ROSAS ADDRESS: SANTA FE - ARGENTINA OPERATORS: LU1FDU X-EMAIL: lu1fdu@yahoo.com.ar X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: 160m 80m 40m 20m 15m 10m Total X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: Valid QSOs: 0 374 0 0 0 0 374 X-SUMMARY: States: 0 51 0 0 0 0 51 X-SUMMARY: Points: 0 1119 0 0 0 0 1119 X-SUMMARY: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU3JVO Class: SOSB/10 LP Total Score = 13,572 Thanks all US stations for the QSO´s, unluckily no VE contacted... Conditions were very bad on 10m this weekend, but mostly on Sunday. Rig: IC-756PRO Ant: Sloper dipole to NA @8mts high 73 and hope to CUAGN on WPX SSB/CW! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU6KA Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 19,350 vy bad condx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU7FJ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 1,132,590 Tnx all.... QSL VIA EA5KB LU7FJ - Radio Club San Justo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LY2OX Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 3,780 Popped in for few minutes and got unexpected 12 minutes run.Otherwise just few big guns could be heared ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: M/N2WKS Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 62,046 No voice keyer + No propogation = sore throat from calling CQ endlessly It was nice to say hi to all my friends in the states. Not enough US stations calling CQ on 40 and 80. Heard stations working s&p but only a few trying to run. Heard V47KP on 15 but no US stations. 20 was wall to wall noise and QSB. Thanks to David for being a gracious host. 73, Zev M/N2WKS Station details: FT1000MP Mark V Cushcraft X7 at 100 feet Trap vertical and Dipoles for 40/80/160 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: MM0ERK Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 1,512 VERY POOR CONDITIONS SAT VERY BAD SUNDAY NOT GOOD BUT DID GET 36 QSO HOPE THE BANDS ARE BETTER FOR THE WPX AT THE END OF MARCH.GOOD FUN DID ENJOY MY 3&HALF HRS ON THE BAND 73 BRIAN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0HR Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 92,598 Too many other commitments this weekend, too man problems with lowband antennas, too little propagation from the upper midwest... EU: 25 AS: 1 NA: 104 SA: 100 AF: 6 OC: 17 Pat N0HR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 325,080 Worst conditions I can remember, and my SS check is 57! Operated from cabin station in far NW Wisconsin--25 miles from Duluth, MN and Lake Superior. Surely noted the lack of any really exciting DX and huge areas of the world unrepresented--Africa, Australia, and much of Asia. Unbelievably, no Russians worked, and only 3 Germans! Only 2 hours running and then 80% UK stations. Guess we REALLY can depend on them! 73 John, N0IJ Lake Nebagamon, Douglas County, Wisconsin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KE Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 303,201 I hope this is the bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KM Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 19,140 Good to see some activity on 10 Meters. Missed the 9A and 9K stations being too deep in the pileups. Hope this test puts me over the 100 mark for DXCC. Had CI-V connection running for the first time between computer log and rig. What a difference! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0OJ Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 7,020 Very limited effort (mainly on Sunday) due to other obligations. 15m was descent, but very spotty for propagation. Europe on 20m was ESP if not completely non-existent on Sunday morning. Worked mainly trans-equatorial on 15m into PY/CE/LU and Caribbean. Hope conditions are better for WPX in a few weeks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0QO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 209,364 This was my second contest. I definitely have much to learn as I found it difficult to generate anything other than sporadic short lived pileups. I think I need to use a voice recorder next time! Many thanks to all of the stations I was able to work! A special thanks to Jim W0UR for allowing me to use(abuse) his tremendous station! 73, Ken, N0QO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1FD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 631,314 Who turned off the lights? We made fewer Q's in 48 hours than we made the first day in the last few years. We managed only two runs the entire weekend, and spent the rest of the time slogging and sleeping. Ugh. The half-finished 80 meter vertical beam probably wouldn't have even helped much. Come on sunspots! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 56,700 For me this was a point-n-click weekend. Somewhat easy to tell from the relationship of Qs to Mults! Lots going on so didn't even think about making a real effort. Click a few when in the shack and then move to the next project. Had a crew over on Saturday to put up the last yagi on the 15 mtr tower, but due to the 16 mph steady and 26 mph gusts wind we defered until mid-day on Sunday. The 5e15 beam is now sitting at 94 feet and looking good. The reason for the Q to Muilt difference on 15 is beam testing. Initial reports from the Pacific were very favorable. Getting close to done. 73, Bruce - N1LN (aka: NC4KW) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2FF Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 130,152 THE WORST CONDITIONS EVER!!!! Signals were weak and there was a great deal of noise and QSB. A number of times I would call a station and hear him come back and then fade into the noise. The exchange was never completed. The band seemed to improve a bit Sunday afternoon but by that time it was too late. Thanks to all who heard my 100 watts and called. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2NT Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 840,000 Limited time entry - by choice, the bands just weren't cooperating and I get no joy from endless F1 button pushing. Seemed like the very worst overall conditions in nearly 40 years. Hope the sunspots make some progress toward a comeback by next season! TNX again to Andy, N2NT for the loan of his FB station for this event. 73, John W2GD aka P40W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2RJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 213,750 My first time (really) in the ARRL Int'l DX contest. I'm a bit disappointed with my score. I figure I could have done better, but a few things kept me back - 1. I need to put back up an antenna for the low bands. 2. I had to work this weekend, so contesting was really only a part time effort. I doubt I even did a full 21 hours like I stated. 3. I need to train the XYL (KC2OYY) so we can do M/S. But for a first time effort, not bad. I liked the CW contest better though. :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2RM Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 261,459 Glad we made a big effort in the cw portion. My Aunt was in the Hospital so that reduced my effort more than just the poor band conditions. She seems to be recovering, and seemed to be at her low point Friday night. 73, N2RM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2VW Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 317,652 In 35 years of contesting, I don't think there has ever been propagation this bad. Pick & shovel ... and FUN! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3ALN Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 67,980 This was my first ARRL DX Contest. I had a great time and there is a lot I need to learn. I did use a voice keyer for the first time and it was great! I have a ICOM 756 Pro and Carolina Windom 80. 73 Alan N3ALN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3CHX Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 43,860 ICOM IC-746 @ 100W to Inverted Vee @55 FT > 20 FT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3IQ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 694,416 Ouch! That was rough. We had a group of 3 mostly CW guys try to pilot a station that has been used almost totally for CW. Missed having the South and West arrays on 80/160M--had some switching problems that I could not resolve just before the contest...calling the southern guys on the NE array was painful. As this was a training session, the "new" guys got exposed to a wide array of broken put-outs on packet; we had best success just tuning from top to bottom and ignoring the spots, sometimes! Found a few guys on 10M that would pop up for just a few moments, long enough to make a contact, almost like meteor scatter on VHF. Did not work JA on 160, 80, or 40, but heard a few--especially loud at 270 degrees after dawn on Sunday, s9 or so, but the ones that we heard could not hear us--or anyone else, apparently. Missed some EU on 160 due to some sort of line noise that we had not had before. We had good food and good fun, and all learned a lot! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3RS Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 2,703,375 The terrible conditions have been commented on by many. We persevered, and while slightly undermanned, we managed to have some fun. Thanks to Bob, K3EST, for driving up to operate with us for the first time. It was great to operate with him again (last time was PJ1B in 1988... Where has the time gone?). On the brighter side, all the antennas worked and no smoke came out of the radio or computer gear. We had a relatively good contest season, and on behalf of the team, I'd like to thank Maryann (Sig's XYL) for the great hospitality that is extended to the weekend invaders. Her efforts always make the team feel comfortable and at home. Now it's time for required summer repairs and improvements, in anticipation of Cycle 24 finally showing us some life in the fall. 73 - Dave N3RD for the N3RS Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3YIM Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 84,189 Had more fun at WX3B. Not band for a little pistol. Look forward to the next one. 73, Joe N3YIM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3ZA Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 567,630 Seems there were more busted calls on fone than on CW, if that's possible. Comparing to last year, 15M was the difference. Had double the amount of Q's/mults in same amount of time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4DL Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 172,134 Wow, talk about poor propagation and crowded bands. My attempts to put up a 40 meter half-square failed on Friday afternoon so I op'd with only a 40 Inv-vee for 40/80/160. Lack of propagation on 10 and 15 seemed to force everyone (and their brother) to 20 and 40. Condx were noisy. Decided a serious AB effort was out so op'd assisted for the additional mults; took Sunday afternoon off to ride the motorcycle (great FL weather). Have already placed an order for more sunspots for next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GG Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 178,425 Just some casual S&P. The wire antennas were mostly on the ground until Saturday morning - all the activity motivated me to get them back up. Cycle 24 will be welcome on arrival. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4KG Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 473,058 "WORST CONDITIONS EVER ?" as suggested by some, probably not, but certainly my lowest (semi-serious) score in a Long Time. Basically, Northern Europe got 'shut out', even on the bands that were open. 66 DL's on CW, 10 on SSB! NO UA's, and NO OK's (yet several OM's), and only a few Scandanavians (4 total Q's from LA, SM, OH). NO Europeans on 10 or 15M. 60 Q's from PY, 38 from LU, 21 from XE in this "Worked All Americas" contest. I was pleased to work CW6V TI50DX HC8A and PW2D on 6 Bands. One of these years I hope to catch HD2A and LT1F on 160M. I missed ALL of the Caribbean stations on 10M resulting in 5 Banders with 15 stations (all in NA / SA). 40M seemed to peak BEFORE my sunset and I picked up 9 New Mults in the last hour of the contest, including DL G GW LZ ON OZ SP UR YU which says a lot about 40M propagation to EU after dark (or how I allocated my time on the band!) Tom N4KG in North Alabama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4LF Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 22,914 Had company all weekend, but I left the rig on and dropped in for an occasional QSO. My modest setup (100w/lo dipole) really doesnt work too well on phone, but I still had a lot of fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4LZ Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 28,470 Had fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 220,626 This was a real struggle with my small station when there was only one band open during the day....everyone was on 20m. I never did so much S/P in any contest.. had one small run to mostly Italy on Saturday afternoon and today another short run into Germany and United Kingdom....with TF3CW calling in for a nice surprise...was stuck on 99 countries most of the day when ran across T77NM calling CQ "No contest"...for number 100. Then at sunset, Mike SV9CVY called me -- 5-9+++ for #101. At sunset on Saturday, was calling CQ with beam East and 5Z4ES and TJ3SL both called about the same time....that makes up for a bunch of the un- answered CQ's... Gordon, VP2E came on with about 30 minutes to go tonight and probably created the biggest pileup ever...not sure where he was the rest of the weekend. He was the last new country at #102... Nice to hear some new calls from Central and South America.. Til the next one... 73, Paul, N4PN FT1000MP/AL-1200 - 1KW TH-5 @ 70' Logging w/CT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PQX Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 479,886 Thanks to all for the Q's, lost all of Sat. night to 59++ line noise on all bands. No europe above 20m at all, I'll be happy when the sunspots return. 73's Bob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4QWB Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 5,814 Catching A35RK on Tonga calling CQ on 15m was definitely the highlight of the contest for me. Couldn't believe he could hear me with my lowly vertical and 100 watts. Poor band conditions overall, as expected, but still a lot of fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4TZ/9 Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 423,000 Is the glass half-full or half-empty? This question is often used to identify optimists and pessimists. But, it also identifies different points of view. For example, I'm told some wine drinkers like to have glasses which are filled half-full because it supposedly helps the flavor, while others like their wine glasses half-full because they don't like the taste. This philosophical question is raised because of a mid- contest conversation I had with fellow SMCer Mike, W9RE, early Sunday. Mike suggested that the conditions on the low bands, and particularly 160, were better the second night while I thought they were definitely better the first night. I worked 25 DXCC counters the first night and only 3 more the second night on 160. Furthermore, I didn't hear many of the people on the second night that I worked the first night. Now, I realize with the conditions in general over the contest weekend that this may be like discussing whether the glass is half-full or half-empty with toilet water. Many top contesters have suggested over the years that you can take your score in points after the first 24 hours and multiply by two to arrive at a pretty accurate estimate of your final 48 hour score. My personal experience over the years has been that I have to work very hard to double my first day score, but I use that as a motivational tool to keep in the chair. My totals after 24 hours were 457Q x 209C = 286K. Little did I know that if I had been able to double that I may well have been looking at a winning Low Power score. But, the second 24 hours netted only 147 more QSOs and just 26 more countries. The ten meter signals were weaker here the second afternoon and there were fewer of them. I think I fished out the bands and didn't hear many new CQers on Sunday. I only got 3 answers to my limited CQing during the weekend. Needless to say, 20 was jammed with big signals. The highs and lows of the weekend may best be summed up with the brief conversation I had Saturday night with a GW on 80m. I asked whether he could listen for me on 40 where I needed him. He said 40 was not open at that moment to my QTH, but he had heard my signal on 160 but didn't manage to get through to me. It was now daylight there and too late to try again on 160. Continent List 2008 ARRL FONE DX N4TZ/9 SOAB LP 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL --- -- -- -- -- -- --- USA calls = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 VE calls = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N.A. calls = 17 31 21 40 31 3 143 S.A. calls = 9 13 22 38 66 19 167 Euro calls = 5 35 39 173 0 0 252 Afrc calls = 1 3 6 5 0 0 15 Asia calls = 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 JA calls = 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 Ocen calls = 0 3 7 4 8 0 22 Total calls = 32 85 95 265 105 22 604 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4XL Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 278,817 Thanks to all. Began using second VFO to find mults. A hard skill to learn. Just getting over flu when starting and had a cough. A word to the wise -- be sure you're drinking cough syrup and not Nyquil (spelling?)!!! Woke myself up several times with head back against the chair, mouth open and horrendous snores that were almost as loud as 160 in the summertime! Couldn't get any real runs going. Be glad when sunspots come back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YDU Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 22,356 I didn't get on too much, but conditions sucked for me. Still fun in many ways, though. I worked more South Americans than Europeans! See you in the next one... 73, Nate/N4YDU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5AW Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 486,720 This year's score is almost an embarrassment considering the investment in equipment and antennas I've made over the past eight years. Excluding a couple of single band efforts, it is by far the lowest score in ARRL Phone for me in the last 10 years. Even from Texas one expects Europe to provide the bulk of your contacts. This year South Americans made up 35%, North America and Europe both 24%. Over 95% of my contacts were S&P. A "run" of on 15 JAs and one DU on 15 meters Saturday afternoon was the only time I had more than 3 consecutive QSOs from CQing. Last year I was frustrated on 40 because the DX stations couldn't hear me. This year with a much improved antenna I think I worked nearly every multiplier I heard and ended up with only two more than last year. These are my lowest multiplier totals on 10 and 15 in 20 years. Only one European worked on 15 (TM6M). We actually had a pretty good opening on 10 both days but to the same areas - deep South America and Central America. Made 60 contacts Saturday and think I could have worked most of the same 60 Sunday - only found 11 new stations and one new multiplier. Like N4TZ I have found you can double your score at the end of 24 hours and usually get a pretty good estimate of your final score. In 2007 I had 320K the first 24 and ended up with 650K. This year I had 290K after 24 hours but finished with just 487K. Conditions weren't noticeably different on Sunday - just couldn't find enough new guys to work. My big hour Sunday was 14. I had 6 hours with less than 10 with a low of 4 between 1400 and 1500 - normally one of the best hours. I decided before the contest started I would limit myself to 36 hours operating time. The analysis program says I only had 32 - that is because some hours were so slow it thought I was off! Actual was close to 36. I spent about 9 of my 12 off hours sleeping, the others on food or shower breaks. I did end up feeling much better physically than I do after a 42+ hour marathon and even was able to accompany the xyl to a social event Sunday evening without being a total “zombie”. I wish the ARRL and CQWW DX Contests both had a 36 hour limit for single ops. In my opinion it would increase the number of serious participants. Some numbers: Equipment: Orion & Icom 746PRO 100 watts (limited SO2R capability - no automated switching of audio input - DVK only on Orion) Antennas: 10/15/20 meters - 3L SteppIR @ 41m, 4L SteppIR @ 23m, Stack of 2 C3s @ 31 and 24m fixed NE, TH3jr @ 13m fixed SE; 40 meters: Moxon @ 42m, Lazy H @ 3 38m beaming NW-SE; 80 meters: array of 5 sloping dipoles from 41m tower; 160 meters 42m tower w/elevated radials; Receiving - one 160m long beverage NE Continent List 2008 ARRL DX PHONE - N5AW 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL --- -- -- -- -- -- -- N.A. calls = 14 31 30 45 38 7 165 S.A. calls = 6 8 31 50 79 61 235 Euro calls = 1 16 33 111 1 0 162 Afrc calls = 1 2 5 4 4 0 16 Asia calls = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 JA calls = 0 4 10 24 21 0 59 Ocen calls = 1 3 8 12 12 3 39 Total calls = 23 64 117 246 155 71 676 -------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y -------------- Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct ------------------------------------------------------------- 0000 0 0 0 58 4 0 62 9.1 0100 0 0 24 10 0 0 34 5.0 0200 0 13 8 5 0 0 26 3.8 0300 6 4 12 0 0 0 22 3.2 0400 0 6 8 0 0 0 14 2.1 0500 3 3 3 0 0 0 9 1.3 0600 2 8 9 0 0 0 19 2.8 0700 3 2 8 0 0 0 13 1.9 0800 3 2 0 0 0 0 5 0.7 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1200 1 1 4 7 0 0 13 1.9 1300 0 0 0 18 18 0 36 5.3 1400 0 0 0 19 12 0 31 4.5 1500 0 0 0 17 11 0 28 4.1 1600 0 0 0 5 14 2 21 3.1 1700 0 0 0 16 4 5 25 3.7 1800 0 0 0 7 4 5 16 2.3 1900 0 0 0 0 13 20 33 4.8 2000 0 0 0 9 3 16 28 4.1 2100 0 0 0 0 6 9 15 2.2 2200 0 0 0 6 1 1 8 1.2 2300 0 0 6 0 24 0 30 4.4 0000 0 0 6 13 0 0 19 2.8 0100 0 2 7 2 0 0 11 1.6 0200 1 2 8 0 0 0 11 1.6 0300 2 1 3 0 0 0 6 0.9 0400 0 2 6 0 0 0 8 1.2 0500 1 6 1 0 0 0 8 1.2 0600 1 7 1 0 0 0 9 1.3 0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1200 0 4 2 8 0 0 14 2.1 1300 0 1 0 4 3 0 8 1.2 1400 0 0 0 1 3 0 4 0.6 1500 0 0 0 2 6 0 8 1.2 1600 0 0 0 11 2 0 13 1.9 1700 0 0 0 1 2 2 5 0.7 1800 0 0 0 3 2 1 6 0.9 1900 0 0 0 1 11 2 14 2.1 2000 0 0 0 3 6 3 12 1.8 2100 0 0 0 2 2 5 9 1.3 2200 0 0 0 10 4 0 14 2.1 2300 0 0 1 8 0 0 9 1.3 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 23 64 117 246 155 71 676 Gross QSO's=682 Dupes=6 Net QSO's=676 Unique callsigns worked = 415 The best 60 minute rate was 65/hour from 0015 to 0114 The best 30 minute rate was 84/hour from 0029 to 0058 The best 10 minute rate was 102/hour from 0035 to 0044 The best 1 minute rates were: 3 QSO's/minute 5 times. 2 QSO's/minute 62 times. 1 QSO's/minute 537 times. There were 113 band changes and 15 probable 2nd radio QSO's. Multi-band QSO's ---------------- 1 bands 291 2 bands 54 3 bands 28 4 bands 23 5 bands 13 6 bands 6 The following stations were worked on 6 bands: HC8A P40A PJ4G 8P1A KH7X TI50DX ----- S i n g l e B a n d Q S O ' s ----- Band 160 80 40 20 15 10 ---------------------------------------------- QSOs 4 18 32 140 69 28 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6AA Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 216,315 I called 403 stations; 36 stations answered my CQs. Tough conditions. No Europe at all the first 26 hours, and only 15 Eu contacts after that. Dry winds on second day started power line noise. Thanks to KH6LC, HC8A, 6Y1V, TI50DX, PW2D, CW6V, and KH7X for 6-bands each. Continent List 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL --- -- -- -- -- -- --- N.A. calls = 11 25 15 37 21 4 113 S.A. calls = 7 13 20 41 56 44 181 Euro calls = 0 0 8 7 0 0 15 Afrc calls = 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 Asia calls = 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 JA calls = 0 6 11 48 19 0 84 Ocen calls = 2 5 8 14 10 2 41 Total calls = 20 50 63 150 106 50 439 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6ERD Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 6,825 I was leaving for a conference on Sunday so didn't plan on working the contest - didn't get on at all on Friday (out with the XYL), but did hop on for a few hours when I got time on Saturday with a lot of interruptions. On Sunday morning I grabbed what I could (again getting called away periodically), mostly looking for mults before taking the station down to put into the car (drove to the conference): Rig FT-857D Antenna - Diamond DPGH62 6M vertical for all bands (10-80) using LDG AT-100Pro tuner. This would have been an ideal contest to have put a lot of time into, but it was not to be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6QQ Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 177,954 Fair opening on 15 meters. No Eu on 40 meters this year. Only one AF QSO. Only 5 Eu on 20 meters. John - N6QQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RO Class: M/M HP Total Score = 1,196,580 Despite the team working hard for every QSO, this was the lowest score in this contest since we started in Oakley 30 years ago. Not only multi, but it's lower than any Single-op score from here! So, prop. can only get better. On the brite side, 10m was open south both days, and we did have some JAs on 15m. Good participation from Oceania on all bands. But, 49 EU in the whole contest? PEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUU. approx. 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent SSB North America SSB 18 31 92 61 70 8 280 17.8 South America SSB 8 13 43 31 104 71 270 17.1 Europe SSB 0 0 2 47 0 0 49 3.1 Asia SSB 0 76 293 284 112 0 765 48.5 Africa SSB 0 1 6 4 2 0 13 0.8 Oceania SSB 5 31 70 35 54 4 199 12.6 Setup: Three FT1000mp, one K-3; various old Alpha amps, LK500. Yagi stacks on 40 thru 10, 2L loops on 80m, 4 Square/bevs. on 160. CT-DOS, VE7CC cluster. Good to have K0UK with us for the whole contest, Bill did the heavy lifting on 15 and 160m. Had the usual iron-man efforts from K6AW, K9YC, WA6O and WX5S. K6VVA stopped in for a few hours - sorry I missed you Locust, I was a night-shifter sleeping! CU in WPX SSB, where every QSO counts! N6RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WG Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 8,991 Sure seems like each contest gets just a bit harder than the last one. It's become the norm here to have to sweat for QSOs as we bump along on the bottom of the solar curve. Unlike previous contests, nothing heard east of the Atlantic. At the start, it seems all I was working were KH6 stations. I wondered for a moment if I had wandered into the KH6 QSO Party by error. Had to recheck the dates :-) The highlight of this contest was working KH7X on all bands 10m through 160m with my 5w and wires. After the last QSO on 160m, he sent Congratulations on the Sweep. Really made my day. Some stations that I used to work that were big beacons on the bands I never even heard this time. I wonder if they were even on. This year my results were about one third less than last year in points and one fifth less in QSOs. At least I was able to get on and have some fun. I think the most unusual QSO for me was working FO5A/MM on 20m. This is the on-board station for the Clipperton Island DXpedition that is on its way to the island. It was fun, but I'm glad this one is over. These ssb contests just remind me why I enjoy cw contests so much :-) Thanks for all the QSOs. 73, Bob N6WG The Little Station with Attitude ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6XI Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 13,677 Operated from Saratoga, CA QTH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6XT Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 127,842 Doing S&P working the mults. Had family visiting and other interuptions. But still had fun. Next time I hope to improve my score. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7AP Class: M/S HP Total Score = 558,180 Family Multi-Single, N7RQ and K8IA ops using N7AP club call. Position 1: Ten-Tec Orion II, Alpha 91B Position 2: TS-870S, Acom 1000 Antennas: (10-15-20): 3 el SteppIR at 78' (40): M-Squared 40M3L 3 el Yagi at 71' (80): Inverted Vee with apex at 65' (160): 78' vertical (shunt fed tower, omega match) with 60 radials All tied together thru a brand new, dual controller, Array Solutions Six-Pack, which unfortunately quit, on one side, only two hours into the contest! But, what the hell, manual switching works ok and gives you good peace of mind. There will be another chapter in the Six-Pack story ;-) Two weeks ago, right after the ARRL DX CW contest ended, I said, "well propagation can't get much worse than this!" I was wrong. This weekend was worse for us out here in the west. In fact, this may be the worst contest conditions I have ever experienced, since being licensed in 1957. Hard to really say that though. We had originally planned a more competitive M-S, with 4-5 operators, but postponement of some antenna work forced us to modify these plans. Sandy and I decided on a lower key approach instead. This included none of our usual multiplier assault, very infrequent times of both radios being manned at once, and lots of simultaneous time off. It shows in our generally low multiplier, but we did have fun.The 203 JA's on 40 meters bailed us from a dismal, though part-time, performance on that band. See you all in CQWW WPX SSB contest in 4 weeks! We will be using WA7XX in that one. 73, Bob K8IA, for Sandy N7RQ as well Butt Nekked Contest Club Arizona USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7IR Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 101,640 This was a part time effort for the club score. Should change the name of this contest to the Worked All South America contest. Thanks to our contesting friends "down" there for their heavy participation. It would have been a very boring contest in AZ without you and our friends in Japan! Total QSOs with Europe for the weekend: 9; 8 on 20 and 1 on 40. Prop was nil in that direction for most of the time. See you in the WPX fests. 73 Gary, N7IR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7RK Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 117,957 Station: FT-1000MP, TL-922A Antennas: *4 Element Tri-bander at 30 feet *66 foot vertical for 160, 75 and 40 meters for both transmit and receive Horrible conditions here. Only Europeans worked from here in Arizona in the entire contest were a CT1, an F and a GM3 on 80 meters. That's not normal! No Europe on any other bands. 73, Dave N7RK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8BI Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 171,045 Lost the 40 meter tower and mult antennas due to a large tree breaking off. (50+ years old couldn't wait two more weeks?) Really was a challenge in the cold weather and snow to get a pair of phased verticals up for 40. Had to tie the Mountaineer to the old tower to pull it and the antennas (at least what was left of them) out of the woods. Seemed like a very un-natural thing to do? Ended up with a lots of stakes for the tomato plants. CU..next time...73..Jack N8BI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9FC Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 56,448 This one wasn't no fun at all ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA2U Class: M/S HP Total Score = 512,502 With thanks to NA2U who kept the chair warm despite a bad back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NB7V Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 90,639 Where are the sun spots? Mostly search and pounce. The only runs I had were to JA (THANKS JA!) We will be in trouble when the Jammers figure out SO2R! I seem to have my own personal Jammer assigned to me every contest.My 40m phased verticles are still not working as they did before they were damaged by 80mph winds. I guess i'll have to go to a yagi. very little europe, lots of SA and asia Thanks for the Q's Davd NB7V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ND0C Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 10,293 - Just as well have been beating my head against a fence post, as my dad would say. Propagation was as bad as I've seen it in nearly 40 years. Didn't hear a whisper on 10 and I could only work Hawaii on 80 and 40. 5 hours was enough trying to get anybody to hear my 5 watts. Aside from the non-existent propagation, another huge frustration was the guys that just won't ID. It wastes everybody's time to wait and wait and then have to ask his call, only to find out I've worked him before. Why not just give your call instead of "QRZ?"? Duh. 73, Randy, ND0C FT-897D at 5 watts with tribander and dipole ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NF4A Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 167,076 Part time effort (7 hours and 53 minutes according to Win-Test). Spent most of Saturday putting up my beam at the new house....have been moved into it since August 1 but never had the time or help until Saturday....plus deer season made it impossible from October thru January. New beam and tower seem to play very well. Only operated 80 and 40 on Friday night. Had to take down my wires for 80 and 40 on Saturday to get the beam installed and didn't have enough time to get them back up so no operating on Saturday night on 80 or 40. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NI7T Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 34,650 Wire dipoles on 80,20,and 15 M 40 m vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN3W Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,887,537 Thanks as always to John Evans N3HBX for letting me use the Poolesville, MD, QTH. I wrote two weeks ago about how bad conditions were in the CW test. I would have paid for those conditions this weekend. EEKS! Lost Tower 4 on Saturday afternoon which holds the 6/6/6 20 stack. The relays on the rotator motor fused and it began to run away. It stopped after a ground cable jammed the gears and motor (lucky me). Had to use the mult tower instead which isnt a great loss, and could use Tower 4 (with the stack pointed at 30 degrees). Tower 4 was returned to operational status by 1700z Sunday. I'v never hit the F1 key 10,000 times in a weekend - until this weekend. Saturday was decent on 20 and 40 (once 20 opened at close to 1230z). Good 80 meter openings both nights as well. Could NEVER get any good runs going on Sunday until 2230z on 40 meters. I worked 40 HARD and got a significant number of my 40 mults on CQs - many rare ones coming on Sunday evening. Never heard any real openings either day to EU on 15, and its getting to easy to operate a contest on one daytime band. Sunday we were teased by 9A1UN, 9A7A, 4O3A, and a few others on 15, but the full opening never materialized. Please, bring on the sunspots.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN4F Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 243,492 Band conditions not the best here, all s&p, 15 never opened to EU, part time effort, needed sleep after a busy week. Highlights, working g3lpn on 160, several all bands 6y1v, vp5h, v26x, v47kp... Thanks to all that answered my calls... Paul NN4F FT1000MP MkV 100w 160M Dipole @65ft ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NQ4I Class: M/M HP Total Score = 557,973 A true part time, non-committed effort...VE7ZO only operated 10 minutes, and W5LE operated about 6 hours, and I did the rest..I managed to sleep both nights...I managed to take the xyl to breakfast, lunch and dinner both days, and I managed to play with the puppies, Yagi, Chipper, and Champ in the yard a lot....so every one was happy...I can't remember conditions that were any poorer than the ones we had this past weekend...one of the biggest thrills was working two JA's on 15m skew path !!!! Could not work a single JA on 40m though and they were fairly strong here too..."Great Ears" award goes to Elvin JA3CZY for getting me on the first call on 75 ssb...and he was not very strong! Some signals from the close in Caribbean stations were ESP level...and some were not workable on 10m at all....The great antenna project at NQ4I starts in 8 weeks! It will involve moving 17 antennas and feedlines...and making it all happen in time for CQWW SSB! See everybody in a few weeks in CQ WPX SSB...de Rick NQ4I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NT0F Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 95,589 Band conditions were not good all weekend here in the midwest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NT4D Class: M/S HP Total Score = 418,428 Short 1/3 of our operators and short 1/3 of our QSO's from 2007. NT4Q wisely scheduled a vacation rather than operate the bottom of the cycle DX contest. NT4D pulled the sled for most of this years' effort. Jay was able to round up a good supply of QSO's by Saturday morning, but we were unable to add much to that start. Mostly lack of effort due to the poor conditions. Running on 20m was very difficult, with propagation to EU seeming to be very poor. The final numbers bear that conclusion out, as only 40 percent of our Q's were from EU. It was a North/South event for us this year. S&P rates were better than run rates. It turns out the weekends' alternate radio activity, helping hoist another yagi at N1LN, was far more productive. After being postponed due to high winds on Saturday, the Sunday antenna hoist at 'LN went well, despite the sighting of an angry buzzing flock of errant cable ties. N1LN reports cherry picking a few choice Pacific DX with his new toy, and that it "is working". The "bonehead" moment of the contest is, as expected, chalked up to W4KAZ. While S&P'ing merrily along back at NT4D, 'KAZ clicks on a spot, hears a relay flip, and immediately realizes that the rig is no longer transmitting. As panic quickly sets in, 'KAZ is unable to determine the cause of the problem. NT4D, after being rudely summoned by said lid W4KAZ, steps into the room. Laughter issues forth from NT4D almost immediately. Not exactly the response he was expecting, 'KAZ scratches his head, still perplexed. NT4D then enlightens the concerned lid, to the effect: "Hey, if you work any CB'rs or truckers, they don't count! You must have clicked a bad spot!" It turns out QSX on the 20m spot was somewhere around channel 19, thus the lack of xmit. Duh-OH! Hey, a cheap lesson. CHECK the packet spots!!!! The lesson admittedly served me well for the rest of the contest, especially the spots for splits down on 40m. Since I don't use packet spots at home, it is something I needed to be schooled on anyway. I was being careful to copy the call, but had been less careful otherwise. Apologies to the DX who were trying to call in on my short 20m runs. Many called that I could not work, so I went back to S&P. 73 de W4KAZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX9T Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 140,562 I didn't allocate much time for this one and quite frankly, don't regret it this time! :) Had a great weekend with the family enjoying wonderful NC weather and relaxing. Played a few hours in the evenings but when I checked the bands during the day...there wasn't much on to really "pull" me so made a quick sweep for multipliers (operated assisted this time) and went back to my days activities. In a year or two when 15 and 10 meters open back up it will be a totally different thing for me because then the fun of "the Run" will return...right not 20m is too cram packed to be any fun for a smaller station like me. I am REALLY looking forward to DX contests returning to 10/15m!!! It's always fun...ham radio is a great hobby! 73, jeff nx9t www.qsl.net/nx9t ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OE4A Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 940,653 What else to say except very bad condx and a big windstorm the whole weekend, so we are happy to still have all our antennas on the towers! I really don’t know why I was so motivated to stay on the radio the whole weekend. Setup: 160m Hilly Billy wire 80m 2 el yagi Optibeam OB2-80 40m 4 el yagi Optibeam OB4-40 20m 15m 10m 16el (4-4-8) Optibeam OB16-3 RX K9AY loop 2 x FT-1000MP Mark V 2 x amps 2x hamation W3NQN filters (tnx to array solutions and W5OV for fast delivery) unfortunately no SO2R box, made just a few QSOs with 2nd radio mostly on 160m. I started the contest on 40m, but very soon I realized this would be the lousy band (140 QSOs the first night) and moved to 80m (wasn’t so bad) and stayed there most of the time till morning. 160m wasn’t too bad but because of very high QRN I didn’t spend much time there. Saturday morning windstorm "EMMA" arrived also our QTH bringing rain, very strong wind and QRN. This would have been the right moment to give up, but real contesters don’t care about lousy condx, bad WX etc and never give up! 20m was performing well at the beginning, except for the QRN, but around 17:00 UTC the band was almost dead here. I was hearing stations south (9A1A,9A7A,S50K,T90T,4O3A..) and west (IR4X, IR4T,...) from me running pileups but almost nothing on my side. Condx came back for short time around 19:00 but not for very long. Around 21:00 UTC I QSYed to 40m and stayed there for the next 3 hours. Around 00:00 UTC I decide to take a 1 hour break, but I woke up 3 hours later. Till morning 07:00 UTC I managed to work 7 QSO´s (2 mults) more on 160m and spent most of the time on 80m (easy going and much better than 40m). Took another brake till 12:30 UTC and started again on 20m, the band was much better than the day before and I was hopping 15m may be also good, but not at our QTH. Lost more than 1 hour between 15:00-16:00 for 16 Quos and 8 mults, once again it was very frustrating to listen to 9A and the guys working NA and to hear nothing but noise. Anyway, got back to 20m and stayed there till 21:30 UTC, this time the band was better than the day before, but I still heard the station south of me working NA which I couldn’t hear at all. In the last 2,5 hours I worked almost 100 QSOs on 40m, also managed to work VE1ZZ for a new mult at his sunset with 50W (drive power) on the first call on top band (I didn’t realize my amp was switched off). Congratulations to Mike, OE6MBG, for going trough all this with low power.....my respect! Let’s see how good the guys from west did under these lousy condx! CU in RDX contest in 2 weeks! 73 es best dx OE1EMS-OE4A Braco ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OH8X Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 117,315 It was difficult. Enjoyed it anyway. Station worked well ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK5R Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,512 It was obvious that the CONDX is going to SUCK + we had our friendly EMMA wind coming so.... I started on 40 and I made some 25 QSOs in about 30 min. but everything was really weak with tremendous static from snowing and very high winds. The static was even on My 4x345 m phased beverages. So I tried for 80m made a couple of contacts and finally someone after I asked how is my signal told me that I am "pretty" strong and a lot of people calling but I heard only the static. So i tried to listen on 160m and the only US station I could hear there was K3LR exactly on the noise calling CQ with no one replying. ( I did not tried to call him and as I see he did not made the OK as a multiplier there - I should have gave them a call - sorry guys)! So I said it is not "obligatory" it is not fun anymore and went to bed with the idea to go 20m single band. Well, in the morning there was no electricity which came on around 16 GMT for a few minutes only. Until Sunday noon when I finally left the station - still complete black out.... I do believe it could hardly be worse. So that was ARRL SSB 2008. 73 ! Jiri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OT2A Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 105,417 Bad conditions, but a lot of fun ! Thanks for the call. SU next time ! Patrick OT2A / ON4HIL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40A Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 5,401,500 Fantastic conditions! I know the majority of the participants will strongly disagree with this statement, however from Aruba propagation was great on all bands except for 10m. I did hear a nice 10m opening a few days before the contest. Unfortunately, during the contest it never really occurred from my location. On Saturday, I listened to HC8A and others in South America running stations for hours but I did not hear a peep out of the U.S. until late in the afternoon. My 10m opening only covered a small area of the southwestern United States. The rates were not fast and I worked very few new multipliers, so I did not spend much time on this band. I listened often on my second transceiver for a better opening and never found one. I made most of my contacts on 15m. This band was quiet since there was almost no propagation to Europe and it produced the best rates. During the quickest hour I logged more than 300 stations. 20m was crowded and the rates were slower than on 15m, however the band was open from sunrise to past sunset and it produced very good QSO totals. During the night, I spent most of my time on 40m where I always seemed to be able to generate a pileup. Throughout the night, I regularly changed to either 80m or 160m, usually making around 30 QSOs before going back to 40m. There was little noise on the low bands and the night time conditions were exceptional. I would like to thank everyone for the QSOs, especially those who worked me on multiple bands. I worked 4100 different stations, 89 stations on five bands and only N5AW and KB5TX made it into the log on all six bands. The climate in Aruba is rough on antenna systems. The constant wind combined with the salt spray causes very accelerated corrosion to the antennas and towers. It has been two years since I did any maintenance and thankfully everything is still up and working properly during this fun contest. I would also like to thank Tim, WD9DZV for doing a great job as my QSL manager. 73, John john@p40a.com Antenna picture on http://www.qrz.com/p40a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40LE Class: SOSB/40 LP Total Score = 19,680 Had less than one hour to operate before the antenna had to be removed and station disassembled preparing to return to home in NY. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40V Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 696,318 Thanks to Andy and John for letting me use my old station for the contest. It was nice of them to rebuild it just before I used it. Hi,hi. Good to put the old call back on the air again and thanks to all for giving me all the QSOs. Some line noise did not let me work the weaker stations, but, overall, the conditions on 20 were pretty good. 73 Carl AI6V/P49V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PJ2T Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 6,372,288 Well, that was certainly fun. Obviously more fun that operating back in the Black Hole. First and foremost, I would like to thank Geoff (W0CG/PJ2DX), the Caribbean Contesting Consortium (CCC), and Jerry (WB9Z) for the once in a lifetime opportunity to operate one of the big ones from one of the big ones as a single operator. That is, operating one of the major 4 contests from one of the major contest stations. Originally, the plan was for another 3-man M/2 from PJ2T as we did last year, but the two other operators dropped out on me. So I could either cancel myself, find some other operators, or try my hand at Single Op. I've operated a few times from the DX side (KH7R 3 times, 6D2X, FS5PL, PJ2T 2 times) but always as multi-op. So I thought I would give SO a try. While I was quite excited at the opportunity to do single-op, at the same time I was very nervous and anxious. I had NEVER operated a contest even close to "full-time". Most of my DX contests were part time efforts from home or multi-ops from the DX side, or stateside at KS9K/K4JA. In the last 10 years, I've only operated one Sweepstakes for the full 24 hours! So, sleep was a major source of anxiety. More anxiety came from the little stuff, like what to eat and what not to eat/drink (thanks Mikey/K9NW, Eric/K9GY), as well as contest strategy. Being a guest op at a multi-op, you can get real-time advice from the station owner as to what you should be doing and when. But as a single op, you're not allowed that luxury. So I spent a bit of time pouring over Tom/8P1A's previously published ratesheet, as well as John's/KK9A/P40A (thanks) LP sheet, and PJ2T's previous SSB and current CW ratesheets. Of course, things change every year, but at least it gave me a little insight as to where I should be and when. Since I was doing single op and staying at the PJ2T station all by myself, I did something that I rarely do...I invited my family. Since I had an entire bedroom all to myself, it was only a little cost adder to get flights for my wife and 3 year old daughter. I had brought my wife to one other contest...a KH7R M/M...and she hated it and would never do it again. She didn't like that most of the conversations were ham related and she didn't like having my full attention during the contest weekend. But time heals all wounds (that was around 1999) so she decided to give it another try. I told her that this time would be worse and better at the same time. Before the contest, I promised to spend a lot of family time together doing tourist things, but during the weekend it's 100% radio, as this wasn't a muli-op. Well, PJ2T isn't exactly set up for SO2R, in the least bit. So I brought down all my SO2R stuff...WL's W5XD box for headphone, PTT and footswitch switching, and a homebrew isolation box for the soundcard to have L/R separation for TX audio and microphone. Geoff had a great idea to set up a 2nd station on a table next to position #1 with a spare FT-1000MP and linear, instead of moving position #2 closer. That idea worked great. All the other SO2R stuff didn't go nearly as well. I spent hours upon hours trying to figure out how to get the TX audio to both radios without hum. My isolation transformer wasn't doing the trick. Therefore, I couldn't use one microphone and have the computer switch between radios, and it also meant that I wouldn't have a voice keyer for both radios. By now, the days are rolling by and I still don't have a setup for SO2R. And my wife growing very upset by the lack of tourist time and too much radio setup time. Long story short, it never got solved. I was about to just throw a hand mic on radio #2 and use it mostly for listening/checking the bands. But then I couldn't even get the hand mic I found to work. I guess I was just going to go at it the old fashioned way...one radio. So off to do more tourist stuff with the wife before contest day. Then, over a good night's sleep, I had an idea. I had seen a spare Heil HC-5 mic element in one of the multitudes of parts boxes. So I decided to make my own version of the Heil Pro Set Plus that has both mic elements, except one would go off to the 2nd radio. Since the footswitch was controlled by Writelog and the W5XD box, I was protected from transmitting on two radios at once, since the PTT was only able to be routed to one radio at a time. Here it was, hours before the contest and I essentially haven't made a single QSO, haven't "checked propagation", and most importantly, haven't checked how all this stuff was going to work together, especially at QRO levels. More anxiety. My wife was very understanding, and even allowed a low key beach day for Friday, a return to the QTH fairly early and I was even going to try to take a nap before the contest. Well, that didn't work out so well either. I heard my phone go off from an SMS message. Turns out a bunch of trades triggered (I trade options as a side "business"). So I had to get up and see what was going on. Oh, and I had broken my laptop a day or two earlier, so my trading platform wasn't accessible. I was able to use one of the PJ2T computers and a web interface into my accounts, only to find strange things going on. So I had to make an international call to my broker to work through a bunch of this stuff. Not exactly a relaxing afternoon prior to the contest. On top of all that, I heard that Rich N6KT/HC8A was going to be on. Ouch. I knew that the 10M propagation advantage he had would be nearly impossible to beat. Trying to beat Tom at 8P was going to be a tall enough order, especially considering both of their DX-side single-op'ing experience and iron pants versus my non-existent DX single op experience and tons of part time efforts. So I made a game day decision to either try low power, or do my favorite..single op assisted. I opted for the higher rates of higher power, and stick with my standard operating class of SO+P as I normally do in WW, SS and ARDX. Of course, it has limited benefit from the carib. The biggest benefit I had hoped for was for finding a 10M opening. Based on my lack of DX single op experience and apparently worse conditions than last year, my goal was to end up somewhere between Tom's winning score last year, and the number 2 slot, which was nearly a tie between FY5KE's HP effort and John's LP effort. So between 6000 and 8000 Qs. As a single op, the highest Qs I've ever achieved in a contest was 3900 for WPX SSB in 2002 from K4JA. The contest started out slower than expected on 20M. I probably stayed too long. But I was rewarded with a 304 clock hour after a band change to 40M. After the rate fell below 100 (9z), I thought I could relieve some of my sleep anxiety by getting a little nap before 20M opened. I grabbed the alarm clock from the bedroom and crashed on the couch by the radios. Surprisingly, I woke up on my own just before the alarm went off, just short of a 1.5 hour nap. More anxiety came from "what in the world is my wife and 3 year old daughter going to do for 2 days while I play radio?" Fortunately, Geoff and Cindy were very kind and hospitable and took them on some sightseeing day trips on both Saturday and Sunday. A big thanks to Geoff and Cindy. Even more surprisingly was the food, drinks and back massages served up by my wife. It was awesome, and I'm very happy that she didn't make me feel guilty about my selfish hobby. 15M was late to open on Saturday, and the rates weren't all that good. Several attempts at 10M were fruitless. Later, I was rewarded with a very small opening to Texas and Arizona, and nearly nowhere else. I'm grateful, but it still sucked. After moving to 20M, I was rewarded with a personal best 340 hour (qrate). That was sweet. After several hours on the low bands, well after everyone else has gone to sleep in the house, the doldrums (<200 hours) and a long hot day was wearing on me. More than I could handle. I was falling asleep at the radio at 2am local (06z). I decided it would be best (?) to get some sleep and be fresh for the high bands the next day. I could have taken a 3 hour nap and gotten up at the absolute worst time slot (9z Sunday from carib), or just get a little more sleep. So I set the alarm for 11:30z and if I wake up earlier, I'd get back on. Well, I woke up earlier...about 11:20z, for a 5+ hour sleep. Doh. I got what I deserved. 15M was even worse Sunday than Saturday, as was any 10M stuff. I did manage a few mult passes from 15 to 10, trying to get neighboring states to TX/AZ, but otherwise was just a few more TX/AZ stations. I have no idea why my 10M line, especially the mults, is what it is. It's certainly not for a lack of trying. 15M slowed down sooner than expected, so move to 20M produced some nice rate near the end of the contest. Even 20M slowed early, so a "last minute" QSY to 40M was handsomely rewarded with 34 QSOs in 7 minutes (nearly a 290 rate)! Overall, I'm very happy with my effort for my first DX single op effort. I met my goal of between 6000 and 8000 QSOs. There's still a lot to learn, and plenty of more operator time I can try to use next time, if/when there is a next time. Big congrats to Rich, Tom, the 6Y crew. Big thanks again to Geoff, Cindy, Jerry, CCC and my wife Shirmela. And thanks to all for the Qs. Chad WE9V http://www.we9v.com PJ2T: http://www.pj2t.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PP5NW Class: SOSB/10 HP Total Score = 107,604 Thank you PP5JR !!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PR7AP Class: SOSB/40 LP Total Score = 109,026 IC-746 100W MONOBAND YAGI 2 ELEM@20M N1MM SOFTWARE My First Contest. Thanks for QSOs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PW2D Class: M/S HP Total Score = 3,146,850 Many thanks to our host PY2DM, Mamiro. All contest without any cluster or Internet access. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY1NB Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 18,576 Nice! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY1ZV Class: SOSB/15 LP Total Score = 27,342 WORKING 40W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY2CX Class: SOSB/10 LP Total Score = 25,056 RUNNING: TX/RX KENWOOD TS450SAT RIG YAGI 6 ELEMENTS MONOBAND ( 28MHZ) MICROPHONE : HEIL PRO SET PLUS IC SOFTWARE : N1MM V 7.12.11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY2DN Class: SOSB/15 HP Total Score = 141,669 RADIO:IC 706MK2 ANTENA YAGI 4 ELEM MONO BANDA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY2NY Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,457,922 FT-1000-Field, KT34XA, 40-2CD. 500w from Acom 1010. N1MM 7.12.14 version with MK2R+ Microham controler. Forget to adjust my clock and work after 00h00, after the end of the contest hi hi hi... Deleted two QSOs... Sleeping two nights and surprised with good 40m and 10m results... See you next contest. PY2NY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY2WC Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 1,113,339 I ENJOYED THIS CONTEST, HAD FUN A LOT, BUT I'AM OLD, I COULDN'T STAY WITH MY EYES OPENED IN THE BEST PERIODS OF THE 75M/160M AND MY 3 ELEM YAGI FOR 40M IS BROKEN, IT DIDN'T WORK WELL SEE U IN A NEXT CONTEST. EQUIPAMENTS: YAESU FT 1000 MP MARK V FIELD ACOM 1010 AMPLIFIER 500 WATTS 8 ELEM LOGPERIODIC ACOM UP 23METERS HIGH 3 ELEM YAGI 40M BUT BROKEN INVERTED V FOR 80M/160M TNX FOR ALL. 73 WAL - PY2WC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY2ZY Class: SOSB/10 LP Total Score = 21,138 Yagi antena 2 elements, 24 mtrs high. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PY5JO Class: SOSB/15 LP Total Score = 44,575 Rig: TS2000 with 100 Watts, Antenna Tri-Band KLM KT34XA, Loc: GG54ho, Curitiba/Brazil. email: jfabio@amprnet.org.br. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S50K Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 242,424 20 was packed with stations, US/VE mostly weak, no VE4, VE5, lab, nwt, yt, nd mult this time. Thanks to all callers for a number of repetitions to complete properly the exchanges. 73s de Marko ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S53M Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 37,674 TS 950 SDX + 1.5 kW 6 el yagi at 45m Limited time of operation. It seams that on Saturday propagations on 20m were not so good? High winds and short rain storm – result of storm Emma, lot of QRN. Thanks to all who called. Miha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S54O Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 36,465 IC756 HM PA 80m: dip @12m 40m: delta loop 20-10m: 3el ECO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: SK6AW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 68,544 Before the contest, we tought we'd to a vacation style M/M beating the old SM-Record of some 2-300k. Day before the contest aurora hit us, and effectively killed most of the conditions first day, and we did not even hear a whisper from NA on 15m second day when it opened up in southern EU. We converted to M/S due to lack of QSO's on more than one band at the same time. Sometimes it's fun to contest from scandinavia .. sometimes not! ;) de SK6AW via SM6U/Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: T99W Class: SOSB/80 HP Total Score = 30,294 TS-850 + SB200 - 500W Ant. 2el In.V 20m up on mountain ASL 1300m. WX new snow, much noise ! 73 to all, see you in next contest. Emil QSL via: QRZ.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TF3CW Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 14,625 Very disturbed conditions. Band never really opened. Imagine, when a 100W station in South Dakota comes back to a CQ with a 59 signal, when at the same time K3LR and W3LPL were down in the mud, with a 44 signal. Only one (1!) really small run, of 25 Q´s, rest was S&P. BUT, fun as always, and things can only improve !!! See you in RDXC, and in WPX from EA8. Siggi TF3CW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TM1W Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 309,198 Soap : Unbelievable bad conditions. Weak signals, crowded 20m band, the only to be opened in EU during day time. Not a single VE5 in the log, and CA only worked on sunday. Radio is a hard job at the bottom of the cycle ... Rig : TS850, PA, 4el DX Beam at 20 m (www.dxbeam.com), Win-Test 3.19 73, Herve F5HRY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TM6M Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 1,987,020 No comment... Never heard a so closed 40m band, not so many times on this band. Day time was MS category, because only one band really open to US. Thanks to the ops who stay to the end ;-) TM6M/F6KHM team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TO5A Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 3,648,000 On 10 meters, could hear South American stations working pileups, but could hear the stations they were working. With the flux at 69, I knew this was not going to be tough on 10. I was lucky on 160 with the QRN not as bad as usual from this city location. Thanks to all that called and got in the log. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: UA9BA Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 684 20m. In a word - UNBELIEVABLE! I had never heard the bands in such poor shape for such lengthy period. The 19 stns I managed to work oughta be awarded for best gears and ears! The very special one goes to John VE3EJ as the most northernly and westernly located station that I worked. John came back to my 500w radio with a 5L @ 30mh on THE FIRST call! For instance I tried dozen of times to attract attention of N3RS but not one time did they even say "QRZ?". Also my compliments to K3LR and WE3C 20m ops that recognized (it didn't sound as if they've really heard it) my call right away. There were too many that i couldn't get in my log. The loudest (s4 on the meter) was VY2ZM. 40m. Not one signal herd! 80m. Spent all Sunday morning between 23z to 02:30z trying to work the only audible stns W3LPL and K1CX. At one instance K1CX asked if my call was HB9BA, and it was the closest I could get to making a good QSO. The K1CX op did asked a timely "QRZ?" few times but no luck. W3LPL op didn't react to my attempts at all. NOT ONCE! This was SOME NEW EXPIRIENCE = FUN! 73's & GL, Willy UA9BA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: UU7J Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 144,072 I think this ARRL ssb 2008 holding a record with maximum complains around the world about bad conditions. Unfortunalely, same story in Ukraine, too. Just a little opening on 40m at the end of the contest with rate on peak at 300 Q's (just few minutes). 73! de UU5MAF http://www.UU7J.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: V31XX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,635,939 After four hours of operation and with more than 800 Q´s in the pocket the ALPHA 8100 linear decided to protect itself forever. Tried to resolve the matter for three hours but no way to repair the amp in the field. So decided to go to sleep and only enjoy the pile-ups during the peak of the propagation (for additional 10 hours) with hundred watts - life is too short and not that fun with the low power. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: V47KP Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 5,336,532 We had a great time on St kitts this year evan if the bands were not that good. The electric company finally found the noise problem which turned out to be a cracked insulator on one pole and about 150 ft away on another pole which has a 11,000 volt line there was a loose clamp get it taken care of was a major improvement. 20 meters opened around 9am both days and 15 was very slow from 10am till it opened good around 3Pm. Alex and myself want to thank everyone for all the contacts and we will be there in October. W2OX and K3NM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3DF Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 33,528 Got on Friday night to check out my 40 m. antenna and hung around for a few extra qsos - lousy condx. As usual, it's a jungle out there when you run qrp! 73, Doug VA3DF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3EC Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 78,300 Tough sleding. Harry VA3EC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 60,858 Gear: * FT-2000 and SB-221 amplifier * N1MM Logger * 3-element Mosley CL-33 tribander at 45' * 40M half-square * 80M delta loop I've been contesting on and off since first licensed in 1982, but this is my first ARRL DX SSB test. Always figured it would not be much fun with less-then-great antennas. I am still more antenna-challenged than antenna-rich but now that I'm set up for proper SSB contesting (a footswitch and headset) decided to leap in and spend at least part of the weekend exploring this big ol' test. The score is no hell, but the enjoyment quotient was high. Note to self: it is fun, so do this one again. SFI=69 | A=19 | K=2 Non-storm conditions don't get worse than this. Don't think solar flux has been very much lower than 69 during this minimum, and the A-index at 19 all weekend indicates the rough shape bands were in, at least up here in B.C. Still, I was surprised to work a little bit of DX -- 52 unique entities. As a non-phone guy, I think I added a couple dozen new ones to the SSB DXCC tally. 10M -- opened around 1930z very briefly from BC to South America. One QSO there, with LT1F, who was loud but all alone. 15M -- far better Saturday than Sunday. 44 Qs and 22 mults. Better than I'd hoped for, and better than it has been recently. 20M -- the money band, of course. EU is the mother lode for mults, but not a single EU heard until Sunday morning's opening, which lasted about three hours (1700-2000z) and was not very strong at any time. GW4BLE, G4BUO, and EI9HX were the strongest signals on the band for most of the opening. Even though the band opened somewhat, I still only picked up 12 European mults -- worked in order of France, Wales, Spain, Ireland, Sicily, England, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Portugal. Lots of countries not heard at all. Heard at the top end of 20M Saturday afternoon: "Sure are a lot of stations on today. Must be some kind of sweepstakes or sumthin." 40M -- not too bad -- 18 DXCC, almost all SA and Carib., plus a JA and my only ZL of the contest. 80M -- not too good -- 13 DXCC, all SA and Carib., plus KH6 (wow, you Hawaiian stations were loud everywhere I heard you this weekend, and lots of you. KH6LC, KH7X, KH7B, KH6FI, WH6R, NH6HT, KH7T. Great work!). Top DX counts: Japan 24 Qs Brazil 20 Argentina 15 Spain 13 Hawaii 10 Costa Rico 10 Mexico 10 Pressed into service my CW-band trapped tribander. It does not like the SSB ends of the bands and sure didn't get heard much. Ran the SB221 amp most of the time, though with SWR floating a bit high I think I was getting about 300W PEP into the driven element above 14.200 mhz. Murphy struck Saturday afternoon, popping the Schottky diodes in the AEA AT-3000 tuner (anyone else found this tuner a bit fragile in the diode department?). Fortunately, I bought spares in bulk so the fix should be a breeze. With 2008 DX SSB in our wake, next year the bands will definitely be much better with a lot more to work. There's nothing quite like a wide-open 15M band for awesome fun. I can hardly wait. On to RSGB Commonwealth (BERU) next weekend for some Qs with the lads from around the British Empire, a game of leap-frog in NA RTTY Sprint after that, then the heavy-duty Russia DX (may do both modes, now that I'm such a seasoned phone op, hi). Then on to BARTG HF RTTY, and the grand-daddy WPX SSB at the end of the month -- that'll be another rookie outing for me. Better start eating my Wheaties every day now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE2DWA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 16,767 All reports sent were 59 (QC), unless otherwise noted. Operators: LW8EXF, LU7DW Equipment Description: Kenwood TS-930, Dipole for 80 @ 10 meter, TH3 (fixed to south) @ 3 meter high. Comments Worst cndx since I've been in VE land (2004). Big snow storm on Friday and Saturday, also on Saturday I went to work at my office all long day. Very few QSOs in low bands, visiting VE3RM for 5 hours on Sunday to help him with his M2 operation. Nelida-LW8EXF had had a great time in her sprint during last hour of contest. Lot of SA and OC activity. See you in WPX SSB 73, Claudio LU7DW-VE2DWA-VE3AP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3AD Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 139,104 Real tough sledding. Thought new antenna at fault. Sunday things improved and antenna really okay. Wait till next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CRU Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 1,188 Little time to contest but had fun. Thanks to all participating and to ARRL for sponsoring. 73, Bill VE3CRU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 257,238 Rough band conditions... I think I surprized A35RK when I worked him on 15. I was surprized he heard me! Several times I wondered if I was transmitting into the dummy load. Call, and call, and nothing. Finally, they would say VE3...? Then work another VE3! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3DZ Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 77 Too much noise at my QTH. Peaks S 9 from the South West. Don't think I'll be able to do any serious effort on phone until I find and fix the source. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3OBU Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 34,398 START-OF-LOG: 2.0 CREATED-BY: SD V13.36 and SDCHECK V13.36 ARRL-SECTION: ON CONTEST: ARRL-DX-SSB CALLSIGN: VE3OBU CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP 20M HIGH CLAIMED-SCORE: 34.398 NAME: Bert Almemo ADDRESS: 54 Rodda Blvd. ADDRESS: Scarborough, Ontario ADDRESS: Canada M1E 2Z8 ADDRESS: ON CLUB: Contest Club Ontario OPERATORS: VE3OBU X-RADIOS: IC765; IC746 X-ANTENNAS: 4 el yagi X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: 160m 80m 40m 20m 15m 10m Total X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: Valid QSOs: 0 0 0 182 0 0 182 X-SUMMARY: Total Bonus: 0 0 0 63 0 0 63 X-SUMMARY: Points: 0 0 0 546 0 0 546 X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: I declare that this station was operated strictly in X-SUMMARY: accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest, X-SUMMARY: and within the conditions of my licence. My report X-SUMMARY: is correct and true to the best of my knowledge. X-SUMMARY: I agree that the decision of the contest organisers X-SUMMARY: shall be final in all cases of dispute. I agree to X-SUMMARY: this data being stored, analysed and cross-checked X-SUMMARY: by computer. X-SUMMARY: X-SUMMARY: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3SY Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 5,355 Just a put in 30 minutes of S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3UTT Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 780,192 Hard to stay in the chair with the poor conditions here. Just a bit too far North for openings, although short, on 10m and 15m to Europe. With my 40m antenna cut for CW portion I could only run less than 400w from 7.15 to 7.24 and didn't try above 7.24. Hope all had fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE4EAR Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 29,160 Not a very productive weekend. This was my third entry into this contest and my worst score yet. Condition, or lack of, had a lot to do with that. I had attended the IWCE show in Las Vegas last week and was flying home late Friday. Just before touching down in Winnipeg, I noticed a spectacular display of Northern Lights. While the other passengers were ooohing and aaaahing, I was thinking this wasn't a good sign for HF propagation. I still figured that I would start about 7 hours into the contest. Got home, turned the radio on 40m and nothing but noise, tried 80m and the same thing. Turned it off and went to sleep. Saturday morning conditions were not much better, Checked the solar index and SSN was less than 10 and the A was 30. This was not going to be easy. 15m opened to deep SA, 20m was open to the Caribbean. Worked all the big guns but no EU or AF, VK, ZL or JA sigs were heard on Saturday. The low bands were impossible and only signals 10dB over 9 or more were barely copyable. On Sunday morning 20m opened to EU for about 20 minutes. Weak signals were heard from 1500Z to about 1520Z. Managed only a handful of contacts before the band closed. 20m did open to EU again later in the day 1900Z for another 1/2 hour but signals were very weak. 15m did open to SA and the Caribbean on Sunday again but signals were weak. 15 was so marginal that not a sngle US or Canadian signal was heard working any of the other signals. Not a peep on 10m. Contesting from VE4 land at the bottom of the cycle... Thanks for the Q's! Ed VE4EAR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6CNU Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 40,626 With active auroral conditions and no sunspots, I should have left the radio off. I missed this contest last year but in 2006 I made over 50% more points and had a poorer antenna system. On Friday night I went to bed with about 25 QSOs in the log. My noise level on 80m and 160m is 20db/S9, so there was no point in staying up late. Saturday was spent working Central and South America, as the rest of the world was inaccessible. I thought Sunday would go the same way, but I did manage to finally work a handful of European countries around noon local time (1900Z). I did not hear the usual German, Belgian, Dutch, Polish, or Slovenian stations, and nothing from Russia either. The opening to Japan on Saturday lasted about 20 minutes at my QTH, and on Sunday was a bit longer. No other Asian stations were heard, and nothing from Africa or Australia either. While it doesn't help living in an "RF Black Hole", the topography and antenna situation reduces by 13m high tower to effectively half that height on 20m. It works better on 15m, but that isn't open very effectively yet - except to South and Central America. So I wish to thank all those who pulled my weak signal through the mud, which at 100W, was most of the time. I am buying an amp, so hopefully things will improve in the future! 73 and tell those contest organizers to order up some sunspots for the next one! Jerry VE6CNU Transceiver: FT-1000MP 100W Antennas: TH6-DXX, inverted vee, shunt-fed tower Logging: N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6EX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 63,336 WOW!!! Was that 20m VP2E pileup at the end a complete hoot or what! I can't imagine how a fishfinder radio would have shown it; but hats off to the VP2E 20m OP on a terrific job. I was in and out of that one a few times, and it was roaring full blast right to the end!!! It would have been a new one for me too!! Here at VE6EX the event was a partimer cuz' of the condx and other things on my plate but I would'nt have missed it. Dreadful score but I worked all I heard. Like the OP at VP2E, "I did my best, and CUL guys". 73's and gud DX to all. VE6EX was SO1R TS940s plus small amp with 3-500; 2 el on 20, 15; uarter slopers for the lo bands. GL, Dan VE6EX.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6FI Class: M/M HP Total Score = 176,175 Conditions were a little lacking but we still proceeded and enjoy the DX contest. The operations required a fair amount of patiences. We had quite a few visitors so that broke the monopoly. This was our first contest in our new 'digs' and things went perfect as we did not manage to break anything! It was nice to have Paul Ve6ufo and Dave Ve6kd give Evan ve6fi and myself Denis ve6aq a helping hand in our multi two submission. Visitors with cameras included Ted ve6kib, Don ve6jy, Rob ve6tr and Al ve6jp who brought us the Chili. Regards, Denis for Ve6fi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6JY Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 60,822 absolutely dreadful conditions up here, so just gave out a few mults so very much a part time low effort event. Trouble is, with the conditions being so bad I don't think I'd have done all that much better if I HAD tried! And these conditions will rotate around to mess up the WPX test too! 73 Don VE6JY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE7CC Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 68,208 All contacts S&P. Glad I didn't put in a serious effort. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VO1HE Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 166,668 I was still trying to decide what band to work right up until the contest started. I was thinking 40M but I really don't like 40 for phone so, after having a listen around, I switched to 20M and stuck with it. I made 1 contact the first evening although there were lots of big signals from South and Central America. They had better propagation to the mid-west I guess. Got up early the next morning and found 20M completely empty of any signals so I went for breakfast., After that, I came back and started in. I got a decent run going low on 20 and had a pretty good result. The band died early so I figured I'd get up and make a go of it in the morning again. Started in for a run and, after a few hours, the antenna started showing high SWR. 60kph wind and heavy wet snow didn't help. I packed it in at that point and cranked the tower down when the wind died down. It seems to be working fine now. I have to tighten the mast plate clamps this week so I hope it gets a bit warmer. Anyway, the band was terrible. Heavy QSB and lots of noise created a very hard working condition. Many KW stations were just above the noise and many of the 100W or less stations were booming. Go figure. In the CW contest I worked a load of KW stations and most of what I worked in this one were 100W or so. Anyway, not as good as I hoped but better than I expected as I didn't think I was going to have the time for it. Better luck next time. Thanks for the Qs. 73 -- Paul VO1HE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VO1MP Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,429,512 Conditions were not great ... had hoped to put in more hours but low band conditions provided absolutely no incentive to stay awake especially on Friday nite, cannot remember when I have ever heard 40 meters so barren of signals .........most of the European big guns were down 30-40 db and propagation was spotty from here. Fortunately that band recovered and enabled a few good spates of CQ'in on Saturday and Sunday....... 20 meters again the only bread and butter band and did provide some activity .... not one JA .... did have a few YB's call in on 20 ....and lots of middle east especially 4X..... kept an eye on 15 but it only opened briefly on Sunday long enough to provide a few EU mults, for the most part 15 meter propagaton from here was north south and that bit of scewed path propagation to Europe on Sunday...... Not a peep on 10 ..... however I Did manage a few 5 banders ....no frequency fights so I guess this speaks volumes for the conditions hi ! Elected to dig in on 40 and stay around 7050 to CQ and receive on the same frequency ............ man that's tough especially with the big European stations 1.5 KC either side of you working split and completely oblivious to your presence...... however I did manage to work a lot of 10 and 20 watt European novices.... 80 meters was biggest disappointment...... and 160 continues to yield a few mults...... however sunspots cannot happen TOO soon .. hi ! Did get a weather break so managed to replace the driven element on my 20 meter yagi.... also did slight modification to beef it up a bit .... we'll see I guess we still some winter left here yet hi ! Piss and Moan section.... Biggest complaint .... again ... that rather ubiquitous station QRZ ... was out in full force again this contest ... especially in the Caribean and now ..South America ... dont know why saying "THANKS QRZ " qrz is shorter than jest saying XX1X ...... go figure... oh well lots of fun my favourite contest ... hope to be on for the WPX.. thanks for qsos/qsys ... C'Y'ALL Next One GLWCDR 73 Gus VO1MP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VP9/W6PH Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 2,560,560 Solr flux: 69 A: 29 K:5 Rig: IC-7000 CT 9.57 W1MD NEC 486-50 DOS Laptop Ant: 160m Inverted L (50' vertical 75' horiztal, 4 WA4PGM radials) 75m G5RV at 25 feet 40m KA Dipole at 25 feet 20-10m A4S at 30 feet More contacts this year but way down on multipliers. 15 meters just wasn't there. I had a sporadic E opening to the mid-Atlantic and southern W1 for about 20 minutes. On Sunday afternoon, the band opened to Colorado and Texas but couldn't get any volume of contacts going. I checked both 15 and 10 often during the contest in between CQs on 20m. The two contacts on 10m were moves by K3LR and K1CX, very weak signals. Twenty meters yielded the most contacts but was overcrowded and suffered from rapid fading. I had one frequency altercation after I had been on a frequency near 14275 for about an hour. The chap came on for his daily chat on 14275 and started swearing and cursing at me about contesters. He never did identify. I'm really not used to being called those names. I moved to another frequency. Forty meters was awesome. The Europeans were a lot weaker than usual which made it possible to find a frequency below 7100. I tried split transmitting around 7105 to 7115 but results were dismal. Likewise, I tried "simplex" in the American phone band but couldn't achieve the rate that I had running split below 7100. When the broadcasters are finally gone, this will be a great band for "simplex" contacts. The KA dipole really worked well and I got a lot of reports of S9 plus. In fact, all the signal reports were 59 except for a 44 from K6VVA. On 75 meters, the best results were around 3750 despite tries at CQing lower. I guess it takes awhile for habits to change. On 160m, I stayed north of 1840 in my attempt to comply with the band plan. My location close to the mid-Atlantic provided great propagation to the densely ham populated northeast. My only problem occurred during the last two hours when I couldn't get CT to stay on 40m and it would revert back to the default 20m after each 40m contact. I finally disconnected the IC-7000 from the computer and manually changed the band to 40m without radio control. Still haven't figured out why it happened as I have been using the same version for the last ten years and never had it happen before. This is my ninth year of operating the ARRL DX Contests from VP9GE. I really appreciate Ed's wonderful hospitality. 73, Kurt, W6PH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VU2PTT Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 48 Not much luck with a very noisy band. Moving into renovated home meant being able to spend very little time on the radio. Hopefully have and amp next year and work a few more. The big guys K3LR, VE3EJ, VY2ZM all picked me up first call with my 100 watts into a C3S at about 60'. Heard WC3E, N3RS, K1LZ and some others who could not copy me. Catch you all next year. 73 de Prasad VU2PTT, W2PTT (ex-AF6DV) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0AIH Class: M/M HP Total Score = 721,392 Whew!! That was dreadful. To bad it is a DX to US contest. At least there would be something to do by working stateside QSO's when there is no DX. We were open for business for 48 hours, but the on meter on CT shows we operated 29.2 hours. Lots of gaps in activity. Paul cannot remember when we had a Multi-Op operation and have under 1000 QSO's. You can't make propagation, even with all the hardware we have at our disposal. Thanks for the QSO's we did make. See you further down the log..... http://www.qth.com/w0aih/ 73, John K0TG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 36,312 At least I could fill something into each of the columns for a change! Spent a good part of this weekend getting ready to mobile the Oklahoma QSO Party next weekend, so didn't operate as much as I would have liked. Sunday afternoon (when I did have time) was taken out by our first thunderstorm outbreak of the season. Enjoyed working all the familiar calls as always! 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0ETT Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 43,296 Poor condx in this one especially for SSB and LP. Limited EU opening on 20 with mostly coastal countries worked and no EU 15m or 40m here. Good openings on most bands to Carribean, Central and South America. Nice to have 10m open up enough to make some Qs and add some mults - maybe its the beginning of cycle 24. Thanks to the intrepid contest expeditioneers who put on some of the dx countries. Heard GMCCers N0KE, K0GAS, and KV0Q in the pileups. Heard N6RO on 20m calling CQ but couldn't tell if it was Bill K0UK at the mike... 73 Ken, W0ETT Rig: IC756pro3 to yagis and verticals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1CTN Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 334,338 STATION: RIG: FT 1000MP MK 5 @100 WATTS ANT FARM: 160 1/4 WAVE INVERTED L, 70 FT VERTICAL X 35 ~100' RADIALS, HOMEBREW PI NETWORK - LOOKS LIKE IT CAME FROM DR. FRANKENSTEIN'S TAG SALE 80A. 1/4 WAVE VERTICAL X 35 ~100' RADIALS, COLLINS CU 737/URC TUNER 80B. DIPOLE @ 50 FEET, HOMEBREW TEE NETWORK 40A. 1/4 WAVE VERTICAL X 35 ~100' RADIALS, COLLINS CU 737/URC TUNER 40B. 2 ELEMENT WIRE BEAM FIXED ON EUROPE, HOMEBREW TEE NETWORK 20-15-10 METERS TENNADYNE T10 10 EL LOG PERIODIC AT 53 FEET BAND BY BAND NOTES... 160: VERY NOISY HERE. NO DEEP CONTINENTAL EUROPE WORKED, HAD TROUBLE HEARING DUE TO LOCAL MAN MADE NOISE. DID WORK CX FOR A NEW COUNTRY. 80: WORKED EVERYONE I HEARD. NOISE THAT PLAGUES ME ON 160 WAS PRESENT ON 80. 40: FRIDAY NIGHT WAS THE PITS, SATURDAY AFTERNOON TO EVENING NOT A BARN BURNER, BUT SUNDAY AFTERNOON WAS THE BEST WITH 100 WATT EUROPEANS SOLID. I HEARD ONE JA EARLY SUNDAY MORNING BUT HE DIDN'T HEAR ME. ZL3A HAD AN AMAZING SIGNAL ON 40. 20: WAS WALL TO WALL AS WE ALL KNOW. WORKED 2 JA'S SUNDAY AFTERNOON THAT WERE BOTH RUNNING KW'S BUT WERE SO WEAK I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY HEARD MY 100 WATTS. 15: WAS NICE AND CONSISTENT INTO THE CARIBBEAN AND SOUTH AMERICA. 10: THERE'S A HAM BAND CALLED 10 METERS? DIDN'T HEAR ANY HAM SIGNALS :) YES THE CONDITIONS WERE NOT SO HOT, BUT WE ALL GOT TO PLAY "RADIOMAN OR RADIOWOMAN" FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. ISN'T THAT WHY WE GOT INTO THIS HOBBY. IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED AT W1CTN. BTW ON A CITY LOT. DEDICATED YEAR ROUND, SMALL RECEIVE ANTENNAS. 80 METERS: ANT WITH GAIN INTO EUROPE 40 METERS: 4 SQUARE OR SPITFIRE 20-10 METERS: REINSTALL SOUTH YAGI 20 AND 15 INTERLACED YAGI TO REPLACE LOG SMALL 10 METER 4 OVER 4 STACK ON TOWER 2 WINNING POWER BALL NUMBERS WOULD BE THE BEST ! HOPE ALL OF YOU HAD FUN, I DID. CU NEXT YEAR 73 DAVE W1CTN RADIO ANSONIA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1EBI Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 101,376 More like an exercise in self-torture. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1HIS Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 261,072 Single antenna for all bands: Wire, 22 m long, 6 m high. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1UE Class: M/M HP Total Score = 2,670,291 First, the good news: we actually made it through both the SSB and CW weekends without having a linear or a radio fail! We actually worked the entire SSB contest and had all 5 networked computers agree on the final score when the contest ended! Now, for the bad news: it was a phone contest, and I didn't think conditions could get any worse than the ARRL DX CW weekend. Let me be the first to say that I was wrong- conditions can't get any worse than this past weekend. Band by Band Breakdown: 160M- W1UE Sat, K1XM Sun. Worked a grand total of 68 Europeans. Never did work OK or YU. 160M propagation this weekend was as bad as I've ever heard it. 80M- KT1D, Tim did a great job working whatever he could hear. At times, the MUF seemed to even drop below this band. 40M- W1NR did the tough sledding. 33% of the QSOs were made between the 2000/2100Z hours each day- the rest of the time was endless CQs. 20M- W1FJ Sat, W1UE Sun. Never made a 100 hour. JAs made it thru for about an hour each day. Band never seemed to really open. Since this was the only daytime band open to Europe, the QRM was endles. 15M- K1XM. Paul worked the band for all it was worth. He vacuumed it from end to end, then did it again. The 23 Europeans he worked were all hard earned. 10M- Everyone chipped in. Signals would pop out of the noise for 5 minutes then disappear, never to be heard from again. Congrats to HI3C, TI50DX, VP5H, and HC8A, our only 6-band QSO stations. Thanks to everyone for all the QSOs, and for sticking it out through the terrible conditions. See you in the next one! Dennis W1UE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1ZA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,137,519 Operators were hot. Sunspots were not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2CG Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 697,281 Just when we though conditions couldn't be worse than the ARRL CW Contest. Sure glad it's over. Thanks to all for the QSOs. QSL via LoTW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2FZ Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 47,502 Copied this right from N1MM software, 182 QSO's; 546 Pts; Cty is 87. Thanks. Dan Monfried W2FZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2IRT Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 442,827 Ugh...glad that's over with. Did better in 2007 with one day to play than I did all weekend this year. Please, someone send the Palos Verdes Sundancers some Red Bull? See y'all in CQWW, and maybe a few Q's in WPX. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3LPL Class: M/M HP Total Score = 3,835,080 BAND QSO COUNTRIES OPERATORS 160 101 55 W3LPL AI3M N3ST 80 540 86 NI1N AC6WI 40 525 90 KD4D WR3Z 20 1560 119 WX3B K3MIM K3RA K4ZA 15 227 57 K1RZ W3IDT K3MIM 10 67 17 K1DQV --------------- Totals 3020 424 = 3,835,080 Comments: Congratulations to the K3LR team for another outstanding score. The electric fence QRN that hurt our 160 meter score so badly during the ARRL CW DX contest was corrected by the owner prior to the SSB contest. It took careful diplomacy and daily helpful contact with the owner to get it corrected so quickly. Lets bring back the sunspots for next season! Continent Statistics 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent North America 27 47 65 72 60 10 281 9.1 South America 9 23 53 100 128 59 372 12.0 Europe 59 440 276 1306 12 0 2093 67.5 Asia 0 9 10 70 0 0 89 2.9 Africa 3 10 24 31 10 0 78 2.5 Oceania 4 24 111 27 21 0 187 6.0 BREAKDOWN QSO/mults HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT 0 6/6 72/33 92/39 60/27 4/3 ..... 234/108 234/108 1 7/7 54/11 40/8 15/3 . . 116/29 350/137 2 7/5 32/9 21/5 9/2 . . 69/21 419/158 3 8/6 28/9 14/1 . . . 50/16 469/174 4 11/10 32/2 10/1 . . . 53/13 522/187 5 24/12 30/3 9/1 . . . 63/16 585/203 6 10/1 40/1 8/2 1/0 . . 59/4 644/207 7 3/1 14/1 14/2 . . . 31/4 675/211 8 2/1 7/2 14/1 ..... ..... ..... 23/4 698/215 9 3/0 4/2 17/0 . . . 24/2 722/217 10 . 1/1 3/0 3/2 . . 7/3 729/220 11 . 3/0 8/0 6/4 1/0 . 18/4 747/224 12 . 1/0 1/0 77/26 7/2 . 86/28 833/252 13 . . . 111/18 27/10 1/1 139/29 972/281 14 . . . 133/6 21/11 2/1 156/18 1128/299 15 . . . 111/3 14/5 5/4 130/12 1258/311 16 ..... ..... ..... 109/2 16/5 3/1 128/8 1386/319 17 . . . 71/1 22/6 10/2 103/9 1489/328 18 . . . 59/1 21/1 18/1 98/3 1587/331 19 . . . 47/5 15/2 10/1 72/8 1659/339 20 . . 5/1 57/3 16/1 4/0 82/5 1741/344 21 . . 23/5 24/2 11/2 2/2 60/11 1801/355 22 . 24/1 18/0 40/4 6/1 7/2 95/8 1896/363 23 . 38/1 34/5 19/2 1/0 . 92/8 1988/371 0 1/1 20/1 15/3 10/0 ..... ..... 46/5 2034/376 1 . 13/1 13/3 3/0 . . 29/4 2063/380 2 2/1 8/1 14/1 1/0 . . 25/3 2088/383 3 2/1 9/2 4/0 . . . 15/3 2103/386 4 5/1 5/1 9/2 5/0 . . 24/4 2127/390 5 4/1 19/0 2/0 . . . 25/1 2152/391 6 3/0 18/0 12/1 3/1 . . 36/2 2188/393 7 1/0 8/0 10/0 . . . 19/0 2207/393 8 ..... 3/0 13/0 ..... ..... ..... 16/0 2223/393 9 1/1 6/1 12/1 . . . 19/3 2242/396 10 1/0 3/0 8/1 1/0 . . 13/1 2255/397 11 . 10/0 7/0 1/0 . . 18/0 2273/397 12 . . . 57/1 1/1 . 58/2 2331/399 13 . . . 66/2 6/1 . 72/3 2403/402 14 . . . 72/0 5/1 . 77/1 2480/403 15 . . . 78/0 3/0 . 81/0 2561/403 16 ..... ..... ..... 96/0 2/1 ..... 98/1 2659/404 17 . . . 51/1 4/2 . 55/3 2714/407 18 . . . 32/0 7/1 . 39/1 2753/408 19 . . . 39/1 3/0 2/1 44/2 2797/410 20 . . 4/0 46/0 9/0 3/1 62/1 2859/411 21 . . 22/3 19/1 2/0 . 43/4 2902/415 22 . 19/1 23/1 9/0 3/1 . 54/3 2956/418 23 . 19/2 26/3 19/1 . . 64/6 3020/424 DAY1 81/49 380/76 331/71 952/111 182/49 62/15 ..... 1988/371 DAY2 20/6 160/10 194/19 608/8 45/8 5/2 . 1032/53 TOT 101/55 540/86 525/90 1560/119 227/57 67/17 . 3020/424 QSO Counts By Band-Country PRFX 160 80 40 20 15 10 3A 1 4O 1 1 1 1 4X 3 2 11 5B 1 1 5R 1 5X 1 5Z 1 6Y 1 1 1 1 1 1 8P 2 2 2 2 5 1 9A 2 8 7 21 2 9H 2 9J 1 9K 1 2 9Y 1 1 1 4 2 A3 1 C5 1 C6 1 1 1 1 1 CE 4 8 9 1 CM 2 2 8 7 2 1 CN 3 CP 2 CT 1 8 9 17 2 CT3 1 4 3 4 1 CU 1 1 CX 1 2 2 3 7 3 DL 2 58 13 115 E5/s 1 1 E7 1 1 6 EA 2 29 47 86 1 EA6 1 2 2 EA8 1 2 7 11 2 EA9 1 1 EI 1 10 5 16 EL 1 1 1 ES 1 1 ET 1 EU 3 F 7 20 16 99 1 FM 2 1 4 4 3 FY 1 1 1 G 6 55 21 174 GD 1 4 GI 4 2 13 GJ 1 GM 1 4 1 31 GU 1 2 2 GW 3 6 3 15 HA 1 3 4 20 3 HB 2 12 7 27 HC 1 1 1 4 1 HC8 1 1 1 1 1 1 HH 1 HI 1 1 1 2 1 1 HK 1 2 4 3 1 HK0/a 1 1 1 1 1 HP 1 1 2 4 HR 2 3 3 5 5 I 9 64 61 234 3 IS 1 2 5 J2 1 J3 1 2 2 2 J6 1 1 2 3 J7 1 1 1 J8 1 1 1 1 JA 5 6 49 KH2 1 1 KH6 2 6 12 11 12 KL 1 4 KP2 2 3 3 3 3 KP4 3 5 4 3 3 1 LA 2 2 2 4 LU 1 4 10 23 39 27 LX 2 1 LY 3 5 LZ 7 5 14 OA 1 OD 1 OE 3 9 6 18 OH 5 16 OK 2 21 3 25 OM 5 4 5 ON 6 5 31 OZ 1 7 1 20 P4 1 1 1 3 3 PA 3 21 5 64 PJ2 2 2 2 3 3 1 PJ7 2 1 1 1 PY 1 9 24 35 47 22 S5 9 11 35 SM 1 4 23 SP 3 18 6 29 SV 1 6 3 19 SV9 1 3 T7 1 TA 2 TF 1 TG 1 2 TI 2 3 6 5 5 3 TJ 1 TK 1 1 2 UA 7 2 26 UA2 3 UA9 2 UN 3 UR 2 9 4 20 V2 1 1 1 1 1 V3 1 2 1 1 1 V4 2 1 2 1 1 V5 1 1 2 1 1 VK 2 14 78 4 2 VP2E 1 VP2V 1 1 VP5 1 2 1 3 2 2 VP8 1 1 1 VP9 2 1 1 1 1 XE 1 7 13 11 10 YB 3 YL 1 4 YN 1 1 YO 4 4 21 YS 1 1 YU 7 6 15 YV 1 3 5 9 1 Z3 1 4 ZD7 1 1 ZF 1 ZL 4 18 7 5 ZP 1 1 ZS 1 11 4 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3PP Class: M/M HP Total Score = 1,682,640 Whew !!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3TZ Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 106,128 Can't get worse than this, I hope end of March will tell. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3YY Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 151,360 Kinda reminded me of my first days contesting with a dipole in the attic. Only thing that kept me in the chair was a chance to try out new amp. Anyone who put it a serious effort in this one is a "REAL CONTESTER". My hat's off to them for the effort. 73, Bob - W3YY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4GHD Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 13,800 Operated portable in Destin, FL using a mobile screwdriver antenna on the sixth floor balcony by the Gulf. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4IX Class: SOSB/15 LP Total Score = 21,780 Boy that was brutal...I think I swept the band back and forth as many times as the guys at K3LR hit the CQ key...still managed to stay in the chair except for a few hours Sunday morning had to go to a birthday brunch for my mother-in-law...but at that time knowing we were not going to have a European opening made the decision easy..High points were getting VK4HAM on Friday nite ( only VK hrd all wknd )..getting through to 9J2BO and ZD7X before the packet rush ( they both were only in for minutes )..Low point was not wrking any Europeans or JA's...even though I had good copy on several backscatter signals like TM6M, OE4A, 4O3A, and JA3YBK, but knew they would not hr my 100w and low antenna signal..but I tried!!! looking foward to some sunpots..maybe we can crash something big into the sun and create our own propagation!! 73's and thanks to all the DX stations that wrked me this weekend...Hope to cu all in the WPX contests...John W4IX STATION: Kenwood TS-830 / 6 Ele. M2 @ 40 feet / CT 9.54 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4KW Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 225,492 Short 10 Meter openings were fair. Hopefully better Sun Spots are coming soon. Had limited operating time available this year. Thanks for all the contacts. Heard several TCG operators on. The TI50DX Group was everywhere. Good operation. 73's Bert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4ML Class: M/M HP Total Score = 1,721,616 Limited Multi-op. Tune up for the VA QSO Party in 2 weeks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4NC Class: M/S HP Total Score = 162,432 Bob KG4IC and I decided to continue the shakedown of the up and coming W4NC club station at the Red Cross Chapter House where the Forsyth Amateur Radio Club meets. The club recently upgraded the computers and network there, and we have been excited about increasing the amount of contest operations there. It was there where the W4WS group cut their teeth on contesting back from 1991-1998, and after doing several Field Day style CQWW events at "The Kiva" (my little yard in downtown Winston-Salem) and several successful years at Robert KG4NEP's Multi op station, we've been trying to drum up more club interest in contesting. It was a busy weekend for many of our regulars, so it was just 3 of us in and out for the weekend. We were also at the mercy of a Red Cross meeting on Saturday, which caused us to move to Robot mode, where all qsos were done with voice files for a over 2 hours. (It worked great, and we got several giggles from some of the EU operators.) We even did tried some spotting on the network. We ran 2 FT-920s and it was the first time we ran our Titan 425 amp with the 920- it worked beautifully. In fact, both the rigs and network held up just fine. We also sent our running score/breakdown to the Getscores page, which we all thought was a great addition to the excitement. We have a bit of shielding to do on the USB lines, but nothing bad at all. Voice keying worked well. The local area is typically noisy with huge blood coolers and a huge manufacturing plant a stones throw away (RJ Reynolds Tobacco)- We'll investigate putting a ICE419 in line with the main operating position. Interstation interference wasnt too bad, but we'll work on that as well. You can see a nice picture of the shack at w4nc.com. Sadly, I had to back out of a trip to WX3B for WPX, bit that might give us an opportunity to put together another W4NC operation for our regulars and any others who want to see a mult op in action! Thanks for all the patience out there with some really ratty conditions. SSB contests are really great for bringing in new blood, and we'll continue to invite folks to our events. 73, Henry W2DZO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4NTI Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 123,120 Condx no where as good as the CW test. Very little Europe, all I heard from Pacific was KH6 land. Although 10 did open a bit, 15 and 20 were the best N/S. Europe was the best on 40. In fact 40 sounded like 20 should have..hi. With the bottom of the cycle both 160 and 80 worked very well with my poor antennas. Dan/W4NTI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4RK Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 14,784 Limited time available ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4RM Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 1,720,845 Band conditons can only get better from here!!!! We had a great group of OPs and had a lot of fun! 73 Bill W4RM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4SVO Class: SOSB/160 HP Total Score = 3,420 Terrible cndx. Only work 5 europe. Did work KH7X though. It is is amazing how one week ago I worked over 60 europeans and 42 countries! Cu Mark W4SVO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4WTB Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 548,964 Part time effort here, again this year ..... Radio time was limited this weekend ..... Low bands were fairly good .... 80 and 160 were better for me on Friday night ..... Activity seemed to be down a little on 40 this year, but Sunday afternoon at my sunset produced some good results into Europe.... 20 meters was a CONTESTER's WAR .... and the only day time band !!!! 15 meters was not nearly as good as last year ( 71 mults last year ... only 42 this year ... No Europe this year ).... 10 did open to the south for a very short period of time around my noon and sunset. I was strictly S&P the entire time I was on the air ..... and never attempted to RUN ..... or find a RUN frequency.... I spent all my time chasing Mult's....Which was actually alot of fun !! With such poor conditions ...... this was more of a ENDURANCE " Test " .... than a CONTEST !! Tnx for all the Q's .... God Bless !! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4ZW Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 67,662 Soapbox : Just a little SSB in between golf games to help balance my favorite CW. Saw two rare Indian Ocean DX stations spotted down around 7.005 and went to see if they really were operating split that far down. Was shocked to hear US stations blindly calling them on SSB at 7.005! The Dx stations were on CW! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5MF Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 155,040 Nice to see 10mts open a little, but was very disappointed with 20mtrs. Can't wait for the sunspots to get going.Sweeps: HC8A and PJ2T. Worked 5J0E on 80-15mtrs. Thanks for all the Q's. Had a great time. Marty W5MF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6QU Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 62,886 Rig: Elecraft K-2 with output set to 5 Watts Antennas: 3 el SteppIR up 32 feet Butternut HF-2V for 40 & 80 M _________________________________________________________________ Two weeks ago I was at TI5KD's station making over 2,300 QRP Qs by calling CQ. This weekend I was 100% S&P and struggled to make almost every single one of the 223 Qs I made!! What a difference a good antenna system and a having wanted call sign make! Conditions, as everyone knows, were terrible. From my location here on the west coast, I never heard a European station for the entire weekend (I was QRP and not really listening to the weak signals). And I had only one African Q, and that was with AO8A on 40 meters. That being said, it was still fun! My best Qs were AO8A on 40 meters, and YE1AA made on 15 meters in the last 15 minutes of the contest. Sometimes a Q like that can make up for the entire weekend! 73, ....Bill Parker W8QZA - W6QU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6YI Class: SOSB/40 HP Total Score = 77,175 Thanks everyone for the qso's. Europe was very limited here as conditions did not seem to be very good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6ZL Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 81,438 I'm not much of a phone contester, decided to see if I could equal my ARRL CW effort. The goal was 100 mults and 100K. Fell short on both. With the SFI at 69 and A at 19, the bands weren't so hot. Lot's of TE on 15M into SA, one third of my contacts were with PY and LU. Had 45 QSO's with Japan, band was open on 15M both days. No EU or AF opening either day, barely made WAC ( Thanks TM6M and AO8A ! ) 1OM opened on Saturday, only one SA station heard Sunday. Didn't have time to operate low bands, thanks to ZF2AH for hearing me on 80M ! Most often worked: JA - 45 PY - 45 LU - 43 KH6 - 26 CE - 9 Thanks for all the contacts! 73, Dave / W6ZL http://www.w6zl.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7MD Class: SOAB(A) LP Total Score = 84,132 First time I used the Cal-Av 40M 2 el beam at 72' (horizontal phased array designed by Eric, N7CL) in a contest. With 100 watts, I worked most of the stations called. Conditions were not so good. With, my 5-el 20M yagi (M2) at 80' I could work some of the Europeans heard on 20M but the signals over the north pole were much weaker than the lineup of stateside contest stations running high power. DSP filtering on the 1000MP helped but not enough DX could be heard through the QRM to keep it interesting. 15M signals were good with the Force12 4BA at 90' This was one of the worst conditioned ARRL DX Phone contests that I have participated in but the challenge is always worth the effort. Thanks to the guys and gals who manned the DX stations and made it all happen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7OM Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 128,250 A lot of locals started the contest and dropped out due to conditions. It was a slog from the northern states. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7QN Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 20,433 No EU Saturday and only a few on Sunday my QTH.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7WA Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 319,770 Other west coast stations have remarked about the disturbed polar path to Europe on 20 meters. On Saturday I noticed Europeans could not be heard from east of a line starting from the UK extending southeast to France and to Italy. The only exceptions heard were a few OH, SM and UA1's north of the auroral oval. On Sunday conditions improved somewhat and I was able to finally work my first DL at 1727Z for mult #96 and an OE about an hour after that for #103. Beacon station RW2F called in around that time and was a mere whisper requiring several repeats for me to pull out his callsign and exchange. 73 de Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7WHY Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 36,924 Saturday was a work day here so not much activity. It's pretty tough here after dark on 80 and 40 with wire antennas. Seems like 15 was open pretty well on Sunday, but everyone was jam packed on 20. QRM is pretty bad with some of the wide stations with the audio cranked WAY WAY too high. It is pretty unbelievable how wide some stations are!!! Log is already on LOTW. Looking for some new countries I hope!! Last RTTY contest had 106 confirmations with 361 Q's. Sure hope SSB'ers are as good at QSL'ing. 73 and thanks for the Q's. Tom W7WHY TS-450SAT X 2 SB-200 ~500 watts 80 meter dipole, 40 meter vertical, 20 meter HB 2 el yagi, 15 meter dipole. N1MM Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7ZR Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 226,746 Just prolonged the agony by staying on from the black hole. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8CAM Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 6,270 Came to the conclusion that I need a new antenna to break up the pile ups and to enable me to work more bands. CW contests are much more desireable. W8CAM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8MJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 359,520 Just part time effort from here. Log as been uploaded to LOTW. W8MJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9RE Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,219,000 This is my lowest score of the past 15 years (that's as far as I went back)and it looks like the first time 15 meters did not open to Europe for at least part of one day for me.. In 1997 I had 1,259,646 1409/298 but in 1998 conditions really improved 2,976,162 2597/382. This last 3 year stretch by far has been the longest span of bad conditions. I was on a bad 20 meter frequency and had bad RFI in my headphones Saturday morning thus my poor rate. This not being much fun, I probably should have pulled the plug but I just couldn't quite do that after investing so many hours and didn't want to break my string of competitive operating. I am going back over the scores and I think I have operated this contest for every year but one or two for the last 30 years. On 40 only got a "Radio Echo ?" from a JA and after a lot of tries to several JA's no Q's. Thanks to all for the Q's and all the repeats. I said this last year and really hesitate to say it again but it has to be up from this. My scores back to the last minimum. 2007 8th 1,627,71 1717 316 2006 6th 3,070,377 2631 389 2005 5th 2,853,774 2343 406 2004 5th 3,833,925 3007 425 2003 7th 2,876,850 2131 450 2002 5th 5,163,342 3791 454 2001 6th 4,305,375 3225 445 2000 3rd 4,949,697 3919 421 1999 4th 2,921,184 2254 432 1998 6th 2,976,162 2597 382 1997 6th 1,259,646 1409 298 1996 7th 1,596,945 1589 335 1995 3rd 1,978,935 1636 401 1994 4th 2,396,678 2059 388 HOUR 160SSB 80SSB 40SSB 20SSB 15SSB 10SSB TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 0 0 19 17 31 2 0 69 69 1 6 5 19 4 0 0 34 103 2 0 15 10 0 0 0 25 128 3 5 12 13 0 0 0 30 158 4 6 10 10 0 0 0 26 184 5 2 17 3 0 0 0 22 206 6 5 20 0 0 0 0 25 231 7 3 4 13 0 0 0 20 251 8 2 7 5 0 0 0 14 265 9 1 2 5 0 0 0 8 273 10 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 275 11 0 3 1 2 0 0 6 281 12 0 1 1 23 0 0 25 306 13 0 0 0 59 0 0 59 365 14 0 0 0 84 18 0 102 467 15 0 0 0 61 10 0 71 538 16 0 0 0 34 13 0 47 585 17 0 0 0 44 6 0 50 635 18 0 0 0 33 12 0 45 680 19 0 0 0 39 11 2 52 732 20 0 0 0 39 6 0 45 777 21 0 0 0 19 19 7 45 822 22 0 0 5 15 6 12 38 860 23 0 0 16 10 5 0 31 891 0 0 0 4 5 0 0 9 900 1 0 1 7 0 0 0 8 908 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 908 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 911 4 0 3 2 0 0 0 5 916 5 4 17 0 0 0 0 21 937 6 2 41 1 0 0 0 44 981 7 0 15 0 0 0 0 15 996 8 0 0 7 0 0 0 7 1003 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1003 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1003 11 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 1006 12 0 0 0 9 0 0 9 1015 13 0 0 0 55 0 0 55 1070 14 0 0 0 58 0 0 58 1128 15 0 0 0 77 2 0 79 1207 16 0 0 0 49 1 0 50 1257 17 0 0 0 46 1 0 47 1304 18 0 0 0 28 5 0 33 1337 19 0 0 0 21 2 0 23 1360 20 0 0 0 18 0 2 20 1380 21 0 0 1 24 2 2 29 1409 22 0 0 5 7 0 0 12 1421 23 0 0 7 10 0 0 17 1438 TOTAL 37 198 153 904 121 25 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL --- -- -- -- -- -- N.A. calls = 17 36 33 58 36 3 183 S.A. calls = 8 21 30 60 77 22 218 Euro calls = 9 133 57 753 0 0 952 Afrc calls = 2 3 7 14 0 0 26 Asia calls = 0 0 0 10 0 0 10 JA calls = 0 1 0 2 1 0 4 Ocen calls = 1 4 26 7 7 0 45 Total calls = 37 198 153 904 121 25 1438 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA2VUN Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 184,266 I had a great time! Band conditions not so great but so what! A bit of "RF" in the shack turned off the Keyboard a few times? My 2000 foot "LOOP" was a killer, better than my small tri-band yagi at 35 feet. I look forward to more contest's 73 to all Mike WA2VUN the "TWR DOC" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA7BNM Class: SOSB/10 LP Total Score = 30 Sporadically checked 10m during the contest and worked everything I heard, but it wasn't much. 73 de Bruce, WA7BNM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 47,922 I sure hope this is as bad as it gets! My beam being stuck on due North sure didn't help matters... Thanks to all for the QSOs. 73 - Rick WB8JUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8K Class: SOSB/80 LP Total Score = 1,500 Only had one hour of operating time due to work & family commitments. With the poor band conditions I guess I didn't miss much. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD0BGZ Class: SOSB/40 HP Total Score = 22,050 Had a great time as always in the contest, conditions were not as good as I would have liked but that was expected being at the bottom of the solar cycle. My rig was an Icom 756pro3, Alpha 91B, Force-12 C-39XRN at 100 feet. ... As always the view from our 9000' elevation was great, lots of snow and when the band was dead I was feeding the birds and watching it snow. See everyone next year. 73, WD0BGZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WE3C Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 3,078,132 On top of the poor propagation, several types of noise challenged us. QRN from rain/snow static was tremendous and persisted through the event. A "line noise" type of static seemed to be there all the time (not sure this was line noise, but atmospheric). QRM levels on 20M limited our ability to work callers. 40M was more difficult than ever with the limited EU openings and lack of SR enhancements. We did have a great time working VK & ZL and thank all the stations for calling in. We had the opportunity to utilize the station capabilities with a full team of operators for the first time. We were able to manage band changes and operating times very effectively which was great fun. What is even more exciting is there is so much more to be improved and enhanced. We can't thank all the DX stations enough, you make the contest. And, thanks to the great competition, it is a privilege to compete with you! And, congratulation to our team, thank you for all your hard efforts. The WE3C Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF3C Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 6,144 The math doesn't work above because of a few zero-point W's and VE's thrown in the mix. Lots of trans-equatorial propagation with only two EU worked; IT9RBW direct path and OH8X over the pole right before the end. Just played around the last couple of hours. Judging from the comments on 3827 after the contest this was a good one to take casually. Hopefully WPX SSB next month will bring better conditions. Tnx to AF4Z and the rest of the PCARS club for keeping the club station available for members like me. TS850 + Harris RF103A @ 1kw Moseley PRO67C @ 60' Writelog ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF4W Class: SOAB(A) HP Total Score = 93,978 I don't normally run a lot of phone but I snuck in around 10 hours of operating this weekend and got caught up in the chase. All operating was S&P and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 73, All, WF4W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI9WI Class: M/S LP Total Score = 12 I spent a few hours during the weekend trying to work my friend Chad, WE9V, at PJ2T. Got him on 15 and 20. Heard him on 40 but couldn't work him. My home amp is still in transit from our trip to J7DX for CW. In spite of following the spots I never could hear him on 80 or 10. No 160 antenna at home here in Madison. The main weekend project was moving everything, and I mean everything, from the basement to the garage for a long planned basement remodeling/repair project which started Monday. So in between moving, throwing stuff out, and cleaning, I listened and chased some spots for PJ2T. IC-765 C-3S 135 ft dipole at 25 ft for 40/80 No 160 antenna. Sounds like I didn't miss much. There was S 8-9 noise on 40 and 80 which is unusual for here, and I could hardly hear the US stations, let alone any DX. 73 Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WJ9B Class: SOSB/160 HP Total Score = 2,538 73, Will, wj9b, dit dit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX3B Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 103,356 Fun part time effort, N3YIM did most of the operating. Looking forward to WPX SSB! 73, Jim WX3B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: YB2ECG Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 195 It's hard to compete with 100W and my own three elements tribander. Only S/P for NA! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: YT0W Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 176,124 73`s Lazo YU1JW - YT0W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: YT2T Class: SOSB/20 HP Total Score = 188,892 BAD CONDITIONS !!! High QRN + Bad WX = 1166 qso , 54 mults. Sorry for MNI AGN and RPT State !!! CU in RDXC and WPX . 73 de Marko YT2T ex.4N1JA also AD5YH . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: YV1FM Class: SOSB/20 LP Total Score = 131,712 TX-RX: IC-756PROII 100W ANT: CUSHCRAFT A3S HEIL PROSET PLUS Thanks to all who contacted my station, very nice contest. Hope to hear you in the next. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ZS6/HA3LN Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 30,420 The equation of this contest: USA beams EU + EU QRM + this propagation = shocked operator + this score - should have been bigger fun to use ZS6/HA3LN/P/M/QRP... my chord still pains - was difficult to hold the TX and RX freq together on 40m - never struggled so much for a contact even with the big guns - gave up after 19 hours tho Win-Test said 4h46 hours of operation (the actual is 13 hours) - 9 out of 10 when somebody turned the ant down I got the "wow, good signal" comment... But... It is a good experience to see how the thing goes from this part of the world. The same as I felt from VK/ZL. It's a real effort to finish a contest... It seems I got used to the European high 160-10m rates too much. Big TNX to Andrew ZS6AA and his family letting me use his great station, tolerating my desperate CQs and adopting me for the weekend. It was great time and I really felt like at home. Thank you. I hope to hear(!!!) you again. 73! Csaba ZS6/HA3LN --- http://www.ha3ln.hu/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ZY7C Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 3,640,275 Our team has increased on the ARRL DX SSB. We received on ZY7C seats André, PT7ZZ and Carlos Mario, PY8MD, ours low banders heros. This was our first effort on M/2 Cathegory. The station setup was very similar of before M/S attempts, however little labor to keep two stations running. Thank you all for QSO and nice rates, particularly on the 20m and 80m that make us very happy. Unfortunately 10m seams never rised from the death and on 160m we really need more aerials to go. Hope work you all again on the CQ WPX SSB comming up. 73, ZY7C Team Index of Calls Call: 4A2S Class: M/S HP Call: 4M5IR Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: 4O3A Class: M/S HP Call: 5C5W Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: 6Y1V Class: M/2 HP Call: 8P1A Class: SOAB HP Call: 9A1UN Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: 9A50KDE Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: AA1K Class: SOAB HP Call: AA2DC Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AA3B Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AA8LL Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AA9DY Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: AB2E Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AB4GG Class: SOSB/40 LP Call: AC0W Class: SOAB LP Call: AC5ZS Class: SOAB LP Call: AD4EB Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AD8J Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: AJ1M Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AK4I Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AL1G Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: C6ANM Class: M/S HP Call: CE3DNP Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: CT1ENQ Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: CT1ILT Class: SOAB LP Call: CT3DZ Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: CV5K Class: M/S HP Call: CW6V Class: M/S HP Call: DJ6QT Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: DL0WW Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: DL1Z Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: DL2AA Class: SOSB/20 QRP Call: DL8SCG Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: EA1WX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: EA4KR Class: SOAB HP Call: EA5DFV Class: SOAB HP Call: EA5KV Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: EA5ON Class: SOAB HP Call: EA7ZY Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: ES5RW Class: SOSB/160 HP Call: F5CQ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: FM5AN Class: SOAB HP Call: G4BUO Class: SOAB HP Call: G4ERW Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: G4MKP Class: SOAB HP Call: GI5K Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: GM3PPG Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: GM7V Class: SOAB HP Call: GW4BLE Class: SOAB HP Call: HA6IAM Class: SOAB QRP Call: HA8BE Class: SOSB/160 LP Call: HC8A Class: SOAB HP Call: HG7T Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: HI3C Class: M/S HP Call: HI3T Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: HK1X Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: HK6P Class: SOAB LP Call: HL5YI Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: HQ9R Class: SOAB LP Call: HT2N Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: IO4T Class: M/S HP Call: IR2C Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: IR4X Class: M/S HP Call: IT9HUV Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: IT9RBW Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: IT9STX Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: IT9XTP Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: IU9A Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: IZ1LBG Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: J88DR Class: SOAB LP Call: JQ1BVI Class: SOAB HP Call: K0AD Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K0FX Class: SOAB HP Call: K0GAS Class: SOAB HP Call: K0KX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K0OU Class: SOAB HP Call: K0PK Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: K0RI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K0TV Class: M/2 HP Call: K0WHV Class: SOAB LP Call: K1CX Class: M/M HP Call: K1GU Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K1HT Class: SOAB LP Call: K1IR Class: M/S HP Call: K1JB Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K1LT Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K1LZ Class: M/S HP Call: K1RM Class: SOAB LP Call: K1RX Class: SOAB HP Call: K1TO Class: SOAB HP Call: K1TR Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K1TTT Class: M/M HP Call: K1VU Class: SOAB LP Call: K1ZW Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K1ZZI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K2CJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K2DBK Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: K2PS Class: SOAB LP Call: K2QMF Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K2QPN Class: SOAB HP Call: K2SX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K2TE Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K2XA Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: K3IU Class: SOAB LP Call: K3LR Class: M/M HP Call: K3MJW Class: M/S HP Call: K3MZ Class: SOAB LP Call: K3NCO Class: SOSB/40 LP Call: K3OO Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K3PP Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K3WW Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K3ZO Class: SOAB HP Call: K4AB Class: SOAB HP Call: K4BAI Class: SOAB HP Call: K4CIA Class: SOAB QRP Call: K4CX Class: SOAB LP Call: K4DLI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K4EU Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K4IU Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K4JRB Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: K4OD Class: SOAB LP Call: K4RO Class: SOAB HP Call: K4SSU Class: SOAB HP Call: K4TX Class: SOAB HP Call: K4WI Class: SOSB/10 HP Call: K4WX Class: SOAB HP Call: K4XD Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K4ZW Class: SOAB HP Call: K5ER Class: SOAB LP Call: K5EWJ Class: SOAB LP Call: K5GO Class: SOAB HP Call: K5KG Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K5NA Class: M/S HP Call: K5NZ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K5RR Class: SOAB HP Call: K5TR Class: SOAB HP Call: K5UA Class: M/S HP Call: K5YA Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K5ZD Class: SOAB HP Call: K6AM Class: SOAB LP Call: K6CSL Class: SOAB LP Call: K6GEP Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: K6IDX Class: M/2 HP Call: K6III Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K6LRN Class: SOAB HP Call: K6MM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K6NA Class: SOAB HP Call: K6RIM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K6RM Class: SOAB QRP Call: K6TA Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: K6TD Class: SOAB HP Call: K7ABV Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: K7ACZ Class: SOAB LP Call: K7EG Class: SOAB HP Call: K7HBN Class: SOAB LP Call: K7KR Class: SOAB HP Call: K7RL Class: SOAB HP Call: K7SV Class: SOAB LP Call: K7WP Class: SOAB HP Call: K7XC Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: K7ZSD Class: M/M HP Call: K8GL Class: SOAB HP Call: K8MR Class: SOAB HP Call: K9BGL Class: SOAB HP Call: K9RS Class: M/S HP Call: KA1CQR Class: SOAB LP Call: KA1VMG Class: SOAB LP Call: KA2ASU Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: KA2D Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: KA4OTB Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: KA8Q Class: SOAB LP Call: KB1H Class: M/2 HP Call: KC5R Class: SOAB LP Call: KC7V Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: KD5J Class: SOAB LP Call: KD9MS Class: SOAB LP Call: KE2DX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: KE3D Class: SOAB HP Call: KE5LQ Class: SOAB LP Call: KF7CG Class: SOAB LP Call: KH6/AA4V Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: KH6GMP Class: SOAB HP Call: KH6LC Class: SOAB HP Call: KH7B Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: KH7Y Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: KI1G Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: KI4GUO Class: M/S HP Call: KI4VEU Class: SOAB LP Call: KI9A Class: M/S HP Call: KL8DX Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: KN0V Class: SOAB LP Call: KN4Q Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: KO7X Class: SOAB HP Call: KP2M Class: SOAB HP Call: KQ2M Class: SOAB HP Call: KR4F Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: KS1J Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: KS2G Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: KT1I Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: KT1V Class: SOSB/160 HP Call: KT4Q Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: KU8E Class: SOAB HP Call: KY5R Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: LN3Z Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: LP1H Class: M/S HP Call: LS1D Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: LT1F Class: M/S HP Call: LU1FDU Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: LU3CT Class: SOAB LP Call: LU3JVO Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: LU4DX Class: SOSB/10 HP Call: LU6KA Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: LU7FJ Class: M/S LP Call: LU8EOT Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: LY2OX Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: M/N2WKS Class: SOAB HP Call: MM0ERK Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: N0HR Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: N0IJ Class: SOAB HP Call: N0KE Class: SOAB HP Call: N0KIS Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: N0KM Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: N0OJ Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: N0QO Class: SOAB HP Call: N1DD Class: SOAB HP Call: N1FD Class: M/S HP Call: N1HRA Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N1IW Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N1LN Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N1MM Class: M/S HP Call: N1PGA Class: SOAB LP Call: N1SV Class: SOAB HP Call: N1TM Class: SOAB QRP Call: N1WR Class: SOAB HP Call: N2BZP Class: M/S HP Call: N2DWS Class: SOAB HP Call: N2FF Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: N2MUN Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N2NS Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: N2NT Class: SOAB HP Call: N2RJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N2RM Class: SOAB HP Call: N2VW Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N2WK Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N3AD Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N3ALN Class: SOAB LP Call: N3BM Class: SOAB HP Call: N3CHX Class: SOAB LP Call: N3IQ Class: M/S HP Call: N3KS Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N3MX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N3RS Class: M/2 HP Call: N3YIM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N3YW Class: SOAB HP Call: N3ZA Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4DL Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: N4GG Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4JF Class: SOAB LP Call: N4KG Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4LF Class: SOAB LP Call: N4LZ Class: SOAB HP Call: N4NM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4PN Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: N4PQX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4QWB Class: SOAB LP Call: N4TCP Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4TZ/9 Class: SOAB LP Call: N4UC Class: SOAB LP Call: N4VV Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N4XL Class: SOAB LP Call: N4YDU Class: SOAB LP Call: N4ZZ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N5AW Class: SOAB LP Call: N6AA Class: SOAB HP Call: N6ERD Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: N6KI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N6NC Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N6NF Class: SOAB LP Call: N6QQ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N6RO Class: M/M HP Call: N6WG Class: SOAB QRP Call: N6XI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N6XT Class: SOAB HP Call: N7AP Class: M/S HP Call: N7BF Class: SOAB HP Call: N7IR Class: SOAB LP Call: N7RK Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N8AA Class: SOAB HP Call: N8BI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N8RA Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N8TR Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: N9FC Class: SOAB HP Call: NA2M Class: SOAB HP Call: NA2U Class: M/S HP Call: NB7V Class: SOAB HP Call: ND0C Class: SOAB QRP Call: NF4A Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: NF8M Class: SOAB LP Call: NI7T Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: NN3W Class: SOAB HP Call: NN4F Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: NN7ZZ Class: SOAB HP Call: NQ4I Class: M/M HP Call: NT0F Class: SOAB LP Call: NT1A Class: SOAB LP Call: NT4D Class: M/S HP Call: NX9T Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: OE4A Class: SOAB HP Call: OH8X Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: OK5R Class: SOAB HP Call: OT2A Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: P40A Class: SOAB LP Call: P40LE Class: SOSB/40 LP Call: P40V Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: PJ2T Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: PJ4G Class: M/S HP Call: PP5JAK Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: PP5JN Class: SOAB LP Call: PP5KR Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: PP5NW Class: SOSB/10 HP Call: PR7AP Class: SOSB/40 LP Call: PW2D Class: M/S HP Call: PY1NB Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: PY1ZV Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: PY2BRZ Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: PY2CX Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: PY2DN Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: PY2NY Class: SOAB HP Call: PY2SRB Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: PY2WC Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: PY2XAT Class: SOAB LP Call: PY2ZY Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: PY5JO Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: S50K Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: S51F Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: S53M Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: S53S Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: S54O Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: SK6AW Class: M/S HP Call: SN3A Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: SN8R Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: SP4SHD Class: SOAB LP Call: T99W Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: TF3CW Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: TM1W Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: TM6M Class: M/2 HP Call: TO5A Class: SOAB HP Call: UA9BA Class: SOAB HP Call: UU7J Class: SOAB HP Call: V26X Class: M/S HP Call: V31XX Class: SOAB HP Call: V47KP Class: M/2 HP Call: VA3DF Class: SOAB QRP Call: VA3EC Class: SOAB HP Call: VA7ST Class: SOAB HP Call: VE1DHD Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: VE2DWA Class: M/S HP Call: VE3AD Class: SOAB LP Call: VE3CR Class: SOAB HP Call: VE3CRU Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: VE3CX Class: SOAB HP Call: VE3DZ Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: VE3EJ Class: SOAB HP Call: VE3EY Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: VE3JI Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: VE3MGY Class: SOAB LP Call: VE3MPT Class: SOAB HP Call: VE3OBU Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: VE3RCN Class: SOAB LP Call: VE3RM Class: M/2 HP Call: VE3SY Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: VE3UTT Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: VE3XAT Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: VE4EAR Class: SOAB HP Call: VE6CNU Class: SOAB LP Call: VE6EX Class: SOAB HP Call: VE6FI Class: M/M HP Call: VE6JY Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: VE7CC Class: SOAB HP Call: VE7KS Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: VE9CEH Class: SOAB LP Call: VO1HE Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: VO1KVT Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: VO1MP Class: SOAB HP Call: VP5H Class: M/S LP Call: VP9/W6PH Class: SOAB LP Call: VU2PTT Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: W0AIH Class: M/M HP Call: W0BH Class: SOAB HP Call: W0ETT Class: SOAB LP Call: W0LM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W0RIC Class: SOAB HP Call: W0VX Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: W0YK Class: SOAB HP Call: W1CSM Class: SOAB HP Call: W1CTN Class: SOAB LP Call: W1EBI Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W1GD Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W1HIS Class: SOAB HP Call: W1KQ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W1QA Class: M/S HP Call: W1UE Class: M/M HP Call: W1WEF Class: SOAB HP Call: W1ZA Class: M/S HP Call: W2CG Class: M/2 HP Call: W2FZ Class: SOAB HP Call: W2GDJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W2IRT Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W2JU Class: SOAB LP Call: W2LE Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W2OO Class: SOAB HP Call: W2XL Class: M/S HP Call: W3CP Class: SOAB LP Call: W3GM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W3LJ Class: M/S HP Call: W3LL Class: SOAB LP Call: W3LPL Class: M/M HP Call: W3MF Class: M/S HP Call: W3PP Class: M/M HP Call: W3TZ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W3YY Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W4GHD Class: SOAB LP Call: W4IX Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: W4KPG Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: W4KW Class: SOAB HP Call: W4LC Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: W4ML Class: M/M HP Call: W4NBS Class: SOAB LP Call: W4NC Class: M/S HP Call: W4NTI Class: SOAB HP Call: W4NZ Class: SOAB HP Call: W4RJ Class: SOAB HP Call: W4RK Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W4RM Class: M/2 HP Call: W4SVO Class: SOSB/160 HP Call: W4WTB Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W4ZW Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W5MF Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W5WP Class: M/S HP Call: W5YAA Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W6GMT Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: W6NF Class: SOAB LP Call: W6QU Class: SOAB QRP Call: W6TK Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W6YI Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: W6ZL Class: SOAB LP Call: W7MD Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: W7NNN Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: W7OM Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W7QN Class: SOAB LP Call: W7WA Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: W7WHY Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W7ZR Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W8CAM Class: SOAB HP Call: W8MJ Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: W9JA Class: SOAB HP Call: W9RE Class: SOAB HP Call: WA2JQK Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: WA2VUN Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: WA7BNM Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: WB1DX Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: WB4MSG Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: WB8JUI Class: SOAB LP Call: WB8K Class: SOSB/80 LP Call: WB9Z Class: SOAB HP Call: WD0BGZ Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: WE3C Class: M/2 HP Call: WF3C Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: WF4W Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: WI9WI Class: M/S LP Call: WJ9B Class: SOSB/160 HP Call: WN6K Class: SOAB LP Call: WT8C Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: WW4LL Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: WX3B Class: M/2 HP Call: YB2ECG Class: SOAB LP Call: YL4U Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: YP9W Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: YT0W Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: YT2T Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: YV1CTE Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: YV1FM Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: YV5EAH Class: SOAB LP Call: YV5LMW Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: YY1JGT Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: ZL3A Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: ZS6/HA3LN Class: SOAB LP Call: ZV5K Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: ZX5J Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: ZY7C Class: M/2 HP Index of Calls organized by Class Class: M/2 HP Call: 6Y1V Call: K0TV Call: K6IDX Call: KB1H Call: N3RS Call: TM6M Call: V47KP Call: VE3RM Call: W2CG Call: W4RM Call: WE3C Call: WX3B Call: ZY7C Class: M/M HP Call: K1CX Call: K1TTT Call: K3LR Call: K7ZSD Call: N6RO Call: NQ4I Call: VE6FI Call: W0AIH Call: W1UE Call: W3LPL Call: W3PP Call: W4ML Class: M/S HP Call: 4A2S Call: 4O3A Call: C6ANM Call: CV5K Call: CW6V Call: HI3C Call: IO4T Call: IR4X Call: K1IR Call: K1LZ Call: K3MJW Call: K5NA Call: K5UA Call: K9RS Call: KI4GUO Call: KI9A Call: LP1H Call: LT1F Call: N1FD Call: N1MM Call: N2BZP Call: N3IQ Call: N7AP Call: NA2U Call: NT4D Call: PJ4G Call: PW2D Call: SK6AW Call: V26X Call: VE2DWA Call: W1QA Call: W1ZA Call: W2XL Call: W3LJ Call: W3MF Call: W4NC Call: W5WP Class: M/S LP Call: LU7FJ Call: VP5H Call: WI9WI Class: SOAB HP Call: 8P1A Call: AA1K Call: EA4KR Call: EA5DFV Call: EA5ON Call: FM5AN Call: G4BUO Call: G4MKP Call: GM7V Call: GW4BLE Call: HC8A Call: JQ1BVI Call: K0FX Call: K0GAS Call: K0OU Call: K1RX Call: K1TO Call: K2QPN Call: K3ZO Call: K4AB Call: K4BAI Call: K4RO Call: K4SSU Call: K4TX Call: K4WX Call: K4ZW Call: K5GO Call: K5RR Call: K5TR Call: K5ZD Call: K6LRN Call: K6NA Call: K6TD Call: K7EG Call: K7KR Call: K7RL Call: K7WP Call: K8GL Call: K8MR Call: K9BGL Call: KE3D Call: KH6GMP Call: KH6LC Call: KO7X Call: KP2M Call: KQ2M Call: KU8E Call: M/N2WKS Call: N0IJ Call: N0KE Call: N0QO Call: N1DD Call: N1SV Call: N1WR Call: N2DWS Call: N2NT Call: N2RM Call: N3BM Call: N3YW Call: N4LZ Call: N6AA Call: N6XT Call: N7BF Call: N8AA Call: N9FC Call: NA2M Call: NB7V Call: NN3W Call: NN7ZZ Call: OE4A Call: OK5R Call: PY2NY Call: TO5A Call: UA9BA Call: UU7J Call: V31XX Call: VA3EC Call: VA7ST Call: VE3CR Call: VE3CX Call: VE3EJ Call: VE3MPT Call: VE4EAR Call: VE6EX Call: VE7CC Call: VO1MP Call: W0BH Call: W0RIC Call: W0YK Call: W1CSM Call: W1HIS Call: W1WEF Call: W2FZ Call: W2OO Call: W4KW Call: W4NTI Call: W4NZ Call: W4RJ Call: W8CAM Call: W9JA Call: W9RE Call: WB9Z Class: SOAB LP Call: AC0W Call: AC5ZS Call: CT1ILT Call: HK6P Call: HQ9R Call: J88DR Call: K0WHV Call: K1HT Call: K1RM Call: K1VU Call: K2PS Call: K3IU Call: K3MZ Call: K4CX Call: K4OD Call: K5ER Call: K5EWJ Call: K6AM Call: K6CSL Call: K7ACZ Call: K7HBN Call: K7SV Call: KA1CQR Call: KA1VMG Call: KA8Q Call: KC5R Call: KD5J Call: KD9MS Call: KE5LQ Call: KF7CG Call: KI4VEU Call: KN0V Call: LU3CT Call: N1PGA Call: N3ALN Call: N3CHX Call: N4JF Call: N4LF Call: N4QWB Call: N4TZ/9 Call: N4UC Call: N4XL Call: N4YDU Call: N5AW Call: N6NF Call: N7IR Call: NF8M Call: NT0F Call: NT1A Call: P40A Call: PP5JN Call: PY2XAT Call: SP4SHD Call: VE3AD Call: VE3MGY Call: VE3RCN Call: VE6CNU Call: VE9CEH Call: VP9/W6PH Call: W0ETT Call: W1CTN Call: W2JU Call: W3CP Call: W3LL Call: W4GHD Call: W4NBS Call: W6NF Call: W6ZL Call: W7QN Call: WB8JUI Call: WN6K Call: YB2ECG Call: YV5EAH Call: ZS6/HA3LN Class: SOAB QRP Call: HA6IAM Call: K4CIA Call: K6RM Call: N1TM Call: N6WG Call: ND0C Call: VA3DF Call: W6QU Class: SOAB(A) HP Call: AA2DC Call: AA3B Call: AA8LL Call: AB2E Call: AD4EB Call: AJ1M Call: AK4I Call: DL0WW Call: DL8SCG Call: EA1WX Call: EA5KV Call: F5CQ Call: K0AD Call: K0KX Call: K0RI Call: K1GU Call: K1JB Call: K1LT Call: K1TR Call: K1ZW Call: K1ZZI Call: K2CJ Call: K2QMF Call: K2SX Call: K2TE Call: K3OO Call: K3PP Call: K3WW Call: K4DLI Call: K4EU Call: K4IU Call: K4XD Call: K5KG Call: K5NZ Call: K5YA Call: K6III Call: K6MM Call: K6RIM Call: K6TA Call: KA2D Call: KE2DX Call: KI1G Call: KR4F Call: KT4Q Call: N1HRA Call: N1IW Call: N1LN Call: N2MUN Call: N2RJ Call: N2VW Call: N2WK Call: N3AD Call: N3KS Call: N3MX Call: N3YIM Call: N3ZA Call: N4GG Call: N4KG Call: N4NM Call: N4PQX Call: N4TCP Call: N4VV Call: N4ZZ Call: N6KI Call: N6NC Call: N6QQ Call: N6XI Call: N7RK Call: N8BI Call: N8RA Call: N8TR Call: NF4A Call: NI7T Call: NX9T Call: OT2A Call: PJ2T Call: PY2WC Call: S54O Call: VE3UTT Call: VE3XAT Call: VE6JY Call: VE7KS Call: W0LM Call: W1EBI Call: W1GD Call: W1KQ Call: W2GDJ Call: W2IRT Call: W2LE Call: W3GM Call: W3TZ Call: W3YY Call: W4RK Call: W4WTB Call: W4ZW Call: W5MF Call: W5YAA Call: W6TK Call: W7OM Call: W7WHY Call: W7ZR Call: W8MJ Call: WA2VUN Call: WB1DX Call: WB4MSG Call: WF4W Call: WT8C Call: YP9W Class: SOAB(A) LP Call: AA9DY Call: CT1ENQ Call: K2DBK Call: K6GEP Call: KA4OTB Call: KH6/AA4V Call: KS1J Call: KS2G Call: N0HR Call: N0KM Call: N0OJ Call: N2FF Call: N4DL Call: N6ERD Call: NN4F Call: PY2BRZ Call: VE1DHD Call: VE3EY Call: VE3JI Call: W4KPG Call: W7MD Call: W7NNN Class: SOSB/10 HP Call: K4WI Call: LU4DX Call: PP5NW Class: SOSB/10 LP Call: K4JRB Call: LU3JVO Call: LU8EOT Call: PY2CX Call: PY2SRB Call: PY2ZY Call: W6GMT Call: WA7BNM Call: YY1JGT Class: SOSB/15 HP Call: 9A1UN Call: IT9HUV Call: K7XC Call: KC7V Call: KH7Y Call: KY5R Call: LS1D Call: PY2DN Call: WW4LL Call: ZX5J Class: SOSB/15 LP Call: CE3DNP Call: KA2ASU Call: KN4Q Call: PP5JAK Call: PY1ZV Call: PY5JO Call: W0VX Call: W4IX Call: YV1CTE Class: SOSB/160 HP Call: ES5RW Call: KT1V Call: W4SVO Call: WJ9B Class: SOSB/160 LP Call: HA8BE Class: SOSB/20 HP Call: 4M5IR Call: AL1G Call: DJ6QT Call: DL1Z Call: EA7ZY Call: G4ERW Call: HG7T Call: HK1X Call: HT2N Call: IT9RBW Call: IT9STX Call: IT9XTP Call: IU9A Call: IZ1LBG Call: K0PK Call: K2XA Call: K7ABV Call: KH7B Call: KL8DX Call: LN3Z Call: LY2OX Call: MM0ERK Call: N0KIS Call: N2NS Call: N4PN Call: OH8X Call: P40V Call: PY1NB Call: S50K Call: S53M Call: SN8R Call: TF3CW Call: TM1W Call: VE3OBU Call: VE3SY Call: VO1HE Call: W7WA Call: WF3C Call: YL4U Call: YT0W Call: YT2T Call: ZV5K Class: SOSB/20 LP Call: 5C5W Call: HI3T Call: HL5YI Call: KT1I Call: LU6KA Call: S51F Call: VE3CRU Call: VE3DZ Call: VO1KVT Call: VU2PTT Call: W4LC Call: YV1FM Class: SOSB/20 QRP Call: DL2AA Class: SOSB/40 HP Call: AD8J Call: IR2C Call: S53S Call: W6YI Call: WA2JQK Call: WD0BGZ Call: ZL3A Class: SOSB/40 LP Call: AB4GG Call: K3NCO Call: P40LE Call: PR7AP Class: SOSB/80 HP Call: 9A50KDE Call: CT3DZ Call: GI5K Call: GM3PPG Call: LU1FDU Call: PP5KR Call: SN3A Call: T99W Call: YV5LMW Class: SOSB/80 LP Call: WB8K